SB 321 
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.^' 

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Slielf-.'L.2..G 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



MARKET GARDENING 



AND 



FARM NOTES 



Experiences and Observations 

IN" THE GARDEN AND FIELD, OF INTEREST TO THE 

AMATEUR GARDENER, TRUCKER 
AND FARMER 



BUE]^ET LAIsTDEETH 

Chief Bureau of Agriculture Centennial Inter-National Exhibition, 
Officier du Merite Agricole de France. 



i^i^v X 



NEW YORK 
ORANGE JUDD COMPANY 

1893 



U^^fx 



Copyright, 1892, 
BY ORANGE JUDD COMPANY 






CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER L 

Page. 
Market Gardening 1 

CHAPTER n. 
Jjocation and Soils ? 17 

CHAPTER HI. 
The Science of Gardening , 23 

CHAPTER IV. 
Chemistry of the Grarden 30 

CHAPTER V. 
Stable Manure, Compost and Commercial Fertilizers 35 

CHAPTER VL 
Sowing Seeds 41 

CHAPTER Vn. 

Germination 44 

CHAPTER VHL 
Transplanting 61 

CHAPTER IX. 
Succession, or the Rotation of Crops 64 

CHAPTER X 
Garden Insects 57 

CHAPTER XL 
Diseases of Garden Vegetable 65 



IV MARKET GAEDEiflNG. 

CHAPTER XII. 

Heredity in Plants 69 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Saving Seed 73 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Seedsmen's Novelties and Responsibilities 78 

CHAPTER XV. 

Weeds 82 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Hotbeds and Cold Frames 84 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Market Gardening Under Glass 94 

CHAPTER XVni. 

Celery 113 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Onion Culture 125 

CHAPTER XX. 

Mushroom Culture 185 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Roots for Stock Feeding 140 

CHAPTER XXII. 

Packing and Shipping Vegetables 164 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

Implements for the Farm and Garden , ... 169 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

A Half-Acre Garden 182 

CHAPTER XXV. 
Calendar Indicating Operations for the Northern and 

Southern States 185 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

The Grass Question 198 

Index 214 



MARKET GARDENING. 



CHAPTER I. 

MaKKET GARDENIIifG. 



Though this volume is written for the amateur, 
or family gardener, indeed, to be more precise, for the 
novice in gardening, it may, however, fall into the hands of 
more experienced persons, inclined to make a venture in 
gardening for profit, and, accordingly, it may not be 
out of place to make some remarks upon subjects con- 
nected with growing vegetables for sale. The last 
United States Census Bureau has issued a bulletin on 
Truck Farming, from which the writer makes the fol- 
lowing extracts. Upward of $100,000,000 is invested 
in this industry, the annual products reaching a value of 
175,000,000, the product of 534,440 acres of land. 

The animal expenditures for fertilizers being $10,000,000 

Tlie cost of seeds used amounting to $1,420,633 

The number of men employed being 210,765 

The number of women employed being 9,254 

The number of children employed being 14,874 

The number of horses and mules employed being 75,800 

The value of the implements used being $8,971,000 

For convenience of tabulation the States are divided 
into districts. The following is a summary of the num- 
ber of acres under cultivation for truck farming pur- 

1 



2 



MAEKET GAEDEKING. 



poses, and the value of products raised, giyen by dis- 
tricts, is as follows : 



Dif3tricts 

New England 

Philadelphia 

Peninsular 

Norfolk 

Baltimore 

South Atlantic 

Mississippi Valley 

Southwest 

Central 

Northwest 

Mountain 

Pacific Coast 



Acres. 


Value of 
products. 


6,838 


$3,184,218 


108,335 


21,102,521 


25,714 


2,413,648 


45,375 


4,692,859 


37,181 


3,784,696 


111,441 


13,183,516 


36,180 


4,982,579 


36,889 


4,979,783 


107,414 


15,432,223 


1,083 


204,791 


3,833 


531,976 


14,357 


2,024,345 


534,440 


$76,517,155 



In the Philadelphia district, which includes Penn- 
sylvania, New Jersey and New York, there are employed 
69,000 men at an average cost for daily wages of $1.19 ; 
the annual production being of the value of $21,000,000. 

The next district of importance, extending over 
the State of Ohio as far as Wisconsin, is known as the 
Central, wherein are employed 34,000 men, at an aver- 
age wages cost of $1.16 per day, and producing an an- 
nual valuation of $15,500,000. 

The South Atlantic district is the third in import- 
ance, having an output of $13,000,000 and employing 
31,000 men, women and children at an average daily 
wages of eighty-five cents. 

As an example of the market gardening output at 
Norfolk, Va., it may be interesting to note the extent of 
some of the shipments made from that city in one year. 

Cabbage 347,000 barrels. 

Kale 178,000 

Onions 4,800 

Radishes 4,200 " 

Irish potatoes 325,000 " 

Sweet potatoes 255,000 " 

Spinach 123,000 " 

Beans 80,000 boxes. 

Cucumbers 46,000 " 

Tomatoes 350,000 " 



MAEEET GrAEDEiriKGi 3 

In addition to the above there were shipped from 
the same city almost 1,000,000 watermelons. And yet 
it was considered a poor year. 

From the city of Mobile, in the next year, the 
shipments were : 

Crates of cabbage i 58,309 

Boxes of beans 46,178 

Boxes of peas 1,278 

Boxes of tomatoes 2,695 

Barrels of potatoes 78,924 

Other market garden products $458,000 

The Philadelphia district, the Central district, and 
the South Atlantic district are only three of twelve dis- 
tricts as laid out by the Census Bureau, that of Califor- 
nia giving an annual production of over 14,000,000, and 
yet there is room for the productions of all, amounting 
to $76,000,000, and no doubt in a few years that sum 
will be doubled, for everything soon doubles in this land 
of phenomenal progress. 

The unprecedented development in the Carolinas 
and Gulf States of the business of growing vegetables 
for autumn and winter shipment to the cities of the 
North, to be from those active centers more widely dis- 
tributed among the densely populated districts of the 
Middle, Western and 'New England States, has been one 
of the surprises in modern agriculture. 

Formerly esculent vegetables could be divided into 
classes, and a period named covering the time of sale of 
each class — as, for example, peas were only ofEered dur- 
ing May, June and July, and so with cucumbers, toma- 
toes, egg plants and beans, they all had their seasons, 
and, when they were past, only those people who had 
greenhouses could expect more until the return of the 
corresponding season the following year, but now that is 
a condition of the past, for Georgia and Florida, with 
their evergreen productiveness, have been able to revolu- 
tionize the old conditions, by sending to the northern 



4 MARKET GARDEITING. 

cities, even when snow clad and ice bound, the fruits of 
balmy summer. 

From such a perennial field there are now offered, 
at all times, vegetables which at first surprised the ob- 
servers and were only used by epicures, but which now 
have become a necessity, not only on the table of the 
rich and well-to-do, but of every hotel and restaurant. 

Thus, thanks especially to Florida, the general pub- 
lic of the whole country have luxuries at their command 
which their ancestors never even hoped to obtain, and 
the now familiar products of Florida have brought that 
State more prominently to the notice of the Northern 
people than has the wheat and corn of any Western 
State made its name known, for grain products do not 
carry with them their own identifications as do cucum- 
bers in March, egg plants in December and January, 
tomatoes from January to March, cauliflower in March 
and April. 

The value of the output of winter vegetables from 
Georgia and Florida, and the value of the quantity con- 
sumed by the winter guests of the hotels, tips the scale 
at a valuation of several millions of dollars, a large sum 
considering that the cultivation is yet in its infancy, for 
the production of vegetables, in Florida especially, is 
certain to develop to an immense degree, as no competi- 
tion can come from a more southern district. The 
profits of the Norfolk truckers were cut by the Charles- 
ton and Savannah market gardeners, and they, in turn, 
by the Florida cultivators, but the Gulf is south of 
Florida,' so competition stops, or becomes merely inter- 
state, there being no neighbors southwardly to compete 
with earlier productions. 

Market gardening may be termed commercial gar- 
dening, as the operator must, to a certain extent, be a 
merchant, fully alive to the import of fluctuating prices, 
and quick to cliange his point of shipment or his 
consignee. 



MARKET GARDENING. 5 

The market gardener, filling a multiform position 
as a cultivator of the soil to an intense degree, as a care- 
ful packer of products in such a manner as to make his 
goods attractive and saleable, as a shipper and a close 
reader of market intelligence, must have the best agri- 
cultural appliances and commercial aids, none of which 
can be procured without money, consequently the sub- 
ject of capital is one of considerable importance. 

Capital. — The capital of a market gardener should 
be estimated by his available cash, compared with the 
number of his acres, and, as, in other things, opinions 
vary, so do the estimates of practical gardeners, some 
being satisfied to live on inexpensive land far removed 
from market, and use what others would term an incom- 
plete line of implements, and be satisfied with what 
nature develops in the ordinary routine of their busi- 
ness, while others, more progressive, locate in the out- 
skirts of great cities, consequently upon high-priced 
land, and have everything new in the way of labor-saving 
appliances. 

The first class of gardeners may be termed experi- 
mental farmers, men tired of the humdrum rotation of 
farm processes and small profits, men looking for a pay- 
ing diversification of their agricultural interests. Their 
expenses for appliances are not great, as they have 
already on hand the usual stock of farm tools, requiring 
only one or two seed drills, a small addition to their cul- 
tivating implements, and a few tons of fertilizers. 
Their laborers and teams are always on hand for the 
working of moderate areas. In addition to their usual 
expenses of the farm, they would not need to have 
a cash capital of beyond twenty to twenty-five dollars 
per acre for the area in truck. Other men, in ordinary 
farming districts, purchasing or renting land, especially 
for market gardening, taking only improved land of 
suitable aspect, soil and situation, and counting in cost 



6 MARKET GARDENIN^G. 

of buildings appliances and labor, would require a cash 
capital of eiglity to one hundred dollar'? per acre. For 
example, a beginner in market gardening in South Jersey, 
on a five-acre patch, would need five hundred dollars to 
set up the business and run it until his shipments began 
to return him money. With the purpose of securing 
information on this interesting point, the writer asked 
for estimates from market gardeners in different locali- 
ties, and the result has been that from Florida the reports 
of the necessary capital per acre in land or its rental (not 
of labor), fertilizers, tools, implements, seed and all the 
appliances, average ninety-five dollars, from Texas forty- 
five, from Illinois seventy dollars ; from the Norfolk dis- 
trict of Virginia the reports vary from seventy-five to 
one hundred and twenty-five dollars, according to loca- 
tion, and from Long Island, New York, the average of 
estimates at the east end are seventy-five, and, at the west 
end, one hundred and fifty dollars. 

Market gardeners, living ten miles out of Philadel- 
phia, on tracts of twenty and thirty acres, devoting all 
their land and energies to growing vegetables, sometimes 
paying forty dollars per acre for rent, estimate that the 
necessary capital averages from two hundred to three 
hundred dollars per acre, according to the amount of 
truck grown. in hotbeds. These same men calculate the 
profits to be from one hundred and fifty dollars to two 
hundred and fifty dollars per acre. 

Very different is the case on the immediate outskirts 
of Philadelphia, and other large cities, with the five and 
ten acre gardeners, employing several men to the acre, 
sometimes a larger force, where high rents, high wages, 
intense manuring and expensive forcing-houses combine 
to swell the expenses to an astonishing degree, often over 
six or seven hundred dollars per acre being absorbed the 
first year, and without which ready capital at command 
the suburban cultivator would be driven to the wall 



MAKKET GAEDENING. 7 

before the close of the first season, as he works under heavy 
expenses, and he naust have ready cash to meet them, es- 
pecially if the first season be an unprofitable one. Of 
course, the six or seven hundred dollars per acre which 
may be expended the first year by a gardener having forc- 
ing houses, with all the entailed expenses, need not be 
repeated the second, not more than one-half of it, and, 
indeed, it is absolutely necessary to reduce expenses, as 
the profit in trucking would not warrant such an annual 
cash outlay ; but what would be thought of an annual 
rental of six hundred dollars per acre, which is the rate 
charged for a market garden which the writer visited in 
the outskirts of Paris, France. 

Location. — Alluvial soils with gravel subsoil are 
best for garden vegetables, but one finds many excep- 
tions, as nearly pure clays, on the one hand, and white, 
apparently inert, sands, on the other, have been made to 
yield a satisfactory return for labor and time put upon 
them. Of course, a light soil means early crops, and a 
clay soil later ones. It may be said that in the South 
early crops always pay the best, but in the North late 
crops are often the most profitable, as they come in after 
the market has ceased to be glutted. Location is of the 
utmost importance, as, evidently, it would be idle to 
expect success where the means of regular and prompt 
shipment to market are not within reach, hence location 
may be looked upon as an indispensable preliminary. 
But it is not all, for the nature of the soil is an even 
more important one, as without a soil, productive nat- 
urally, or with artificial stimulation, it matters little 
what the transportation facilities may be. 

Transpartation. — From many communications 
which the writer has received, he gathers that the in- 
quirers imagine, because they are on a railroad a few 
hours or a hundred miles or so from a shipping point, 
that they are well placed for market gardening. This 



S MARKET GARDEKING. 

is a grave mistake. True the railroad car or the steamer 
which is to receive articles so perishable as fruit and 
garden vegetables for transportation, should be near at 
hand, as hauling over rough country roads should be 
avoided as much as possible, and. transshipment from 
cars to boat, or vice-versa, is to be dreaded, as every dis- 
turbance is promotive of decay, and attended by expense 
in some shape or other, as well as liable to cause delay. 
The Avriter would impress upon all not to embark in the 
business of market gardening and small fruit growing, 
however much they may be tempted by ready transpor- 
tation, unless they are, themselves, favorably located for 
such pursuits ; for a good location means not only trans- 
portation, but condition of soil, and availability of labor. 

There are other crops besides garden vegetables and 
fruit which will, in many locations, pay more certainly, 
and, as a necessary result, more fully, in the end — just 
as the moderate man, who is content with six per cent, 
well secured on land, fares better, finally, than he who 
grasps at two and one-half per cent, a month on 
doubtful paper. 

Where transportation, climate, soil, ability to com- 
mand labor and manure, unite to point out any special 
spot as well adapted to the object, the next point of 
inquiry is, which crops are the best to grow ? This is, 
also, an all-important subject to be considered, inasmuch 
as the facility for shipment may be all that is desirable, 
but the distance from market too great to afford, hope 
for the successful transportation of the more perishable 
class of products. Within fifty to sixty hours of market 
by rail or boat, delicate fruits and comparatively perish- 
able culinary vegetables may be moved successfully, but 
beyond that distance danger of decay increases, and the 
business assumes too much the complexion of a lottery, 
where the blanks far out-number the prizes. A ship- 
ment, eighty hours on its travels, may occasionally reach 



MAEKET GARDEKIKG. 9 

its destination and pay largely, but the loss on other 
shipments which may arrive at destination heated and 
decayed will more than absorb previous profits. 

Much, however, depends on the season, as, for ex- 
ample, a shipment from Florida to the North during 
the winter months will, if not frozen in transit, carry 
twice as long as in spring or autumn, and three times as 
long as in summer. Hence it will be seen that not only 
must there exist certain conditions as respects facility 
for shipment, but the adoption of the locality, with ref- 
erence to distance from market, must be carefully con- 
sidered, before deciding as to the crops to be grown. 

With such a location as Burlington county, JSTew Jer- 
sey, where the writer has a farm, and where have congre- 
gated so vast a number of ''truckers," as they are pop- 
ularly called, and small fruit growers, attracted by the 
light kindly soils, admitting of tillage early in the 
spring, and the markets of New York and Philadelphia 
in close proximity, where gathering of perishable vege- 
tables and picking of fruit may be pursued till sunset, 
and the next morning find them in market, everything 
which the climate admits may be successfully produced. 
Still further south, as in the vicinity of Norfolk, Wil- 
mington and Savannah, other cultivators are pursuing 
market gardening on a larger scale, and, although the 
transportation is more expensive and of longer duration, 
these points are still within easy reach of market, while 
the earlier season in which crops are produced is a 
compensation for increased expenses. It may not be 
fully realized by all persons into whose hands this work 
may fall, that the time or season in which a vegetable 
delicacy or choice fruit is placed in market has an 
important influence on the price. In our large commer- 
cial and manufacturing cities where wealth has concen- 
trated, and where abound families who live regardless 
of expenditures, fabulous prices are freely paid for vege- 
tables and fruits to please the palate or adorn the table. 



10 MARKET GARDENIIirG. 

Products. — At Norfolk are grown extra early peas 
iu great quantity, string or snap short beans, early cu- 
cumbers, tomatoes, kale, cabbage, spinach, early squash 
and early potatoes, and other articles of minor import- 
ance. Berry culture is also pursued there, and large 
quantities of strawberries reach the Northern markets 
from that quarter, and several weeks before those grown 
near Philadelphia are ripe. Melons also find there a 
congenial soil along rivers and water-courses, and where 
ready means of transportation admit of carriage of bulky 
articles at reasonable rates. To illustrate the extent to 
which trucking at Norfolk is pursued may be cited the 
spinach crop grown there, which annually takes one 
hundred thousand pounds of seed to sow the land. 

Still further south, from the ports of Charleston 
and Savannah, come to us in advance of those of Nor- 
folk, peas, beans, asjjaragus, cucumbers, cabbage, pota- 
toes and berries. 

But is it necessary to profitable gardening that 
there should be great yariety ? On this subject 
there are two distinct views, one set of men directing 
their energies to the production of a limited variety, 
aiming to grow and ship those well. Such a system 
affords a longer time for planting and culture, the mind 
not being harassed by the conflicting claims of many . 
crops, the few which grow being harvested, affording 
an opportunity to plan for the future and rest from the 
labors of the past. A second set of cultivators planting 
more or less of everything, at every season, always plant- 
ing, seeding, marketing, a never-ceasing round of labor 
and anxiety. This system, however, seems to be one 
which, by its very diversification, offers the best hope of 
profit, as the cultivator does not carry all his eggs in 
one basket, nor in several, but in many. 

Witli the seven millions of people of Philadelphia, 
New York, Boston, St. Louis and Chicago, and the many 



MAKKET GARDENINa. H 

millions more in other cities and towns which look to 
these great distributing markets for supplies, there is, 
at seasonable seasons, little fear of gorging the markets 
of the country if the fruit and vegetables be well chosen 
and well packed. The reader will observe the cautious 
use of the expression seasonable season, as, of course, no 
Southern grower of tomatoes, cucumbers, egg plant or 
other garden products would expect to find a market for 
his goods in Northern cities when those markets were 
in receipt of the same class of garden truck from terri- 
tory adjacent, the products of which would be fresher 
and cheaper than those from distant points. The ship- 
per of fruits and vegetables from the South, attempting 
to cope with the garden States of New Jersey and Dela- 
ware, when their products are being sent to market, 
would only have his trouble for his pay 

It will be perceived, from the reference to the great 
distributing markets, that they must be reached by sev- 
eral channels or lines of transportation. In the East 
along the seaboard by steamer or coast railway lines from 
points as far south as Key West, inland up to St. Louis, 
Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Cincinnati, 
Cleveland, by the various railways of the Mississippi Val- 
ley, from gardening sections of Louisiana, Alabama, Mis- 
sissippi, Tennessee, further west still on north and south 
lines from Texas and Arkansas. In continuation of the 
remarks on the limited or comprehensive systems of 
cropping, it may be added that there are two extremes. 

First: — That of too fine a concentration, the 
reduction of the varieties to a very few, the carrying of 
all of the eggs in one basket, a glutted market of sucli 
fruits and vegetables, sweeping away all hopes of profit, 
with no resources in other crops. If the cultivator is at 
a distance, requiring over a day or two to reach the 
larger markets, then four or five varieties which develop 
well should be planted. The nearer the cultivator is to 



12 MARKET GAEDEJSriNG. 

market, the greater the range of varieties he can ship 
successfully. 

Second : — That of too great diversification and the 
undertaking to grow too many kinds of yegetables, 
requiring widely different conditions of soil and climate, 
the land, periiaps, being very favorable to some, and to 
others not adapted at all. 

If growers in the Southern States would continue to 
raise, each year, such varieties as have proved adapted to 
their soil aud location, and avoid overcropping with such 
sorts, which, by accident, paid the largest return the pre- 
ceding season, their average yearly return would certainly 
be better. To illustrate this more clearly, it may be 
Avell to note a circumstance which occurred during the 
spring of 1890. The spring before, Philadelphia received 
a limited supply of from one hundred to two hundred 
quarts per day of strawberries from Florida, very early, 
and very good, and they found ready sale at from sixty 
cents to one dollar per quart, the consequence being the 
setting out in Florida of a very largely increased acreage 
of strawberry plants. Now, what was the result ? The 
receipts from the same section the spring of 1891 
ran from one thousand to two thousand quarts per day, 
and they were retailed through the streets by hawkers 
at fifteen to eighteen cents per quart, the results of 
over-production. 

Large quantities of new potatoes reach the markets 
of New York and Philadelphia from Berm.uda, Charles- 
ton, Savannah, Florida, and, still later, but before North- 
ern crops mature, from Virginia and Maryland, and 
there is room for more, at paying prices, and they who 
present them early, of good sorts and in good condition, 
need not apprehend a want of customers. 

Florida, however, seems to be destined to be the 
market garden of the Atlantic States, as the gardening 
year there is one of almost continued sowing and bar- 



MAllKET GARDENING. 13 

vesting. So unusual are the conditions that they have 
upset all the usual gardening records of the seasons, for 
the Florida trucker, working throughout the length of a 
peninsula of two hundred mileS; is sowing nearly every 
kind of seed in every month, and marketing crops out' 
of their usual seasons. For instance, egg plant is sown 
in August, onion seed in October, tomato seed in Novem- 
ber, and so on. The ordinary routine of sowing has been 
disturbed, and yet everything appears to grow in profu- 
sion and to perfection. 

Fertilizers — The subject of fertilizers is one which 
looms up boldly and expensively when considering the 
culture of garden products, especially those designed for 
early maturity. The writer is asked every day what 
kind of manure is best for this or that crop. Is guano 
good ? Do you use superphosphate ? He can only 
answer in general terms. Yes, they are all good, if made 
by reliable parties ; but which is most valuable in respect 
to cost and effects produced will depend, in no small 
degree, on each particular surrounding. In localities 
where horses and cattle abound, stable manures will usu- 
ally be attainable at moderate prices ; especially will this 
be the case where gardening is not pursued to a large 
extent, and the sale of manure is mainly to ordinary far- 
mers, who are not accustomed to paying high prices. 

On the other hand, around Philadelphia, for 
instance, the charge for the article in question is fear- 
fully exorbitant, the price it generally commands at 
that city is seventy cents per small cartload, delivered 
on board boat or car. Eight such loads can readily be 
drawn by two good horses, as has frequently been done 
at Bloomsdale. Under such conditions of expense, the 
gardener must resort to all the fertilizers within reach, 
hoping to find something less expensive, but all are gen- 
erally quite costly. 

To give an idea of the expenditure for manure when 
intense effects are to be produced, the writer will add 



14 MARKET GARDENING. 

that one year the order for Bloomsdale and Eeedland 
Farms, six hiindred and fifty acres, reached the sum of 
twenty thousand dollars. When stable manure cannot 
be had, as in a sparsely settled country, wood ashes may 
play an important part, and, if artificial fertilizers need 
to be bought, superphosphate and Peruvian guano will 
come in as useful adjuncts to home manure, compost 
and green crops, plowed under. Baugh's superphosphate 
is in good repute in Philadelphia, and we feel warranted 
to say, from our own experience, that it is reliable. In 
short, all organic matter, and nearly every substance 
that decomposes, is able, if rightly applied, to stimulate 
vegetable growth. But let it be observed, for on this 
fact much depends, the product, in respect to earliness, 
is influenced in proportion to the quality and quantity of 
manure applied. The truck gardeners of Philadelphia 
understand this well, and place in market, by the aid of 
excessive application of excrementitious matter, cabbage, 
lettuce, radish, beets, long before they are fit for use in 
private gardens, where such rank manures would not be 
countenanced, and, of course, with extra early products, 
they reap large profits. 

It is a good plan to prepare manure in advance of 
the season of demand, by making compost heaps, as they 
are called, which can be drawn upon as needed, without 
having to look up fertilizers at a busy time, and when 
crops may be delayed, awaiting their arrival. The expe- 
rienced cultivator understands all this equally well with 
the writer, but he is advising the inexperienced, those 
who inquire of him the why and the wherefore, and to 
sucli only, be it understood, is ho addressing himself. 

Another point of important consideration and of 
interest to those who design embarking in the business 
of gardening, whether for market or private gi'atifiea- 
tion. ai-c tlie ini])lements best adapted for such work. 

Implements. — If the operations are designed to 



MAEKET GARDENING. 15 

embrace several acres there will be needed a good two- 
horse steel plow, costing, say ten dollars, for breaking 
up the soil to a proper depch in spring, and whenever 
the land is recropped ; a light one-horse steel plow, cost- 
ing five dollars, for drawing open furrows, closing them, 
earthing up such crops as are benefited by such culture ; 
a harrow, best of iron, as it is lighter than wood ; an 
Iron Age cultivator, with a full set of movable teeth, 
price three dollars, for pulverizing the soil between 
drilled crops*; a clod crusher, or leveler, readily made 
of three boards nailed together to form a triangle, to be 
drawn from either angle ; a seed drill, the Matthews or 
the Model, costing six to eight dollars, both being used 
on Bloomsdale with satisfaction ; or, still better, a Keeler 
seed drill, price $9.00, which will sow continuous rows, 
or drop the seed in hills, from ten to thirty-six inches; 
a Lees wheel hoe costing five dollars ; a full set of hoes 
of various sizes and shapes for side scraping and cross 
cutting. With these simple implements nearly all the 
necessary appliances will be at command ; others, if need- 
ful, may be procured at the hardware stores. 

Crates. — The boxes and baskets in which garden 
products are to be transported to market, are of great 
importance ; for it is self-evident, unless proper precau- 
tion be taken, perishable articles may reach their desti- 
nation so badly damaged as not to be worth the freight. 

For strawberries, blackberries and raspberries, very 
light boxes are manufactured by |)arties Avho make a 
business of it, and sell them at low prices. Some of 
these are made at so slight a cost as to be given away to 
the purchaser of the fruit ; others are expected to be 
returned to the commission merchant, who, in turn, 
dispatches them to the grower from whom they came. 
Others are made with a view to greater ventilation, and 
that is of special importance when the point of shipment 
is distant from market. Peas, beans, cucumbers, can be 



16 MARKET GAJIDEHING. 

shipped in ventilated one bushel baskets made for such 
purposes. 

Potatoes usually reach the Northern markets from 
the South packed in second-hand flour barrels, but it is 
questionable whether it would not pay to put them up, 
especially those barely ripe enough to ship, in half bar- 
rel or one bushel pea baskets, so as better to adapt the 
quantity to family wants. But few private persons wish 
to buy a whole barrel of rare-ripe potatoes, but many 
families could consume a bushel before they would grow 
stale, which immature ones are liable to do. Thus, with 
smaller packages, a direct domestic market could be 
formed for vast quantities, and not, as now, have the sale 
confined to ^^rovision stores and other retail dealers, each 
partv, through whose hands they pass, adding a profit 
until they reach so high a price as to deter purchasers 
from buying liberally. 

Pea baskets are gotten up of thin stuff, slatted on 
all sides, to admit air. There are sometimes rims, or 
projections, so as to obviate compact storage of the bas- 
kets while in transportation, thus securing a sure circu- 
lation of air. 

Large quantities of potatoes reached the Northern 
market in former years from Ireland, put up in cylin- 
drical wicker-work hampers, and they came in excellent 
condition, and it is probable such hampers could be 
made in the South very cheaply. Oranges and lemons 
from Florida might also reach the North in the same 
form, as there are thousands of families who would buy 
a small hamper of fruit, who now purchase only a 
dozen at a time. It is not simply the interest of the 
producer to transport his crop in market, but to do so in 
a form that will entice customers, by giving them the 
least possible trouble and inconvenience when supplying 
their wants. The writer is merely throwing out hints, 
practical minds will work out the problems themselves. 



MARKET GAEDE]lSri]S[G. 17 

There may be some people with but little experience 
in tillage, who imagine the conduct of a farm or garden 
is like that of a manufactory, where the amplification 
and extension of the business is only limited by the cap- 
ital at command ; and when they hear of certain large 
sums being realized from a small plot of ground, argue 
that the same ratio of profit may be extended over an 
indefinite area ; this is a great mistake, as they are posi- 
tively certain to realize, if they undertake to prove their 
theory ; and hence we recommend all readers who incline 
to start in the enterprise herein discussed, to feel their 
way. One season's experience may enlarge their confi- 
dence, or it may teach them without serious loss, that 
either they or their locations are unfitted to the business. 
Undoubtedly the greater profit will be found in doing a 
little well, rather than in imperfect efforts to accom- 
plish more than the facilities at hand warrant one to 
undertake. 



CHAPTEK II. 

LocATioiJr ATS J) Soils. 

As a rule, the best exposure is a gentle slope to the 
south, but in hilly countries such cannot always be 
obtained, and good gardens are often seen facing to 
every point of the compass. The site, face which way it 
may, should preferably be an even plane, be it level or 
sloping; that is to say, a table-like surface, without 
dish-like hollows, on the one hand, or knolls, on the 
other ; but even an inability to meet these latter condi- 
tions need not deter an active worker, for frequently the 
best gardens are met with in localities anything but cor- 
responding to the requirements of theory. 
2 



18 MARKET QARDENIKG. 

As sunlight is the great factor, in the growth of 
vegetables, too much attention cannot be given to afford- 
ing uninterrupted access for every ray of sun to the grow- 
ing crops, hence no houses, barns, sheds, fences or trees, 
should be allowed to cast shadows at any time upon the 
garden surface ; and trees, even so located as not to cast 
a shadow on the crop, may be robbing them both of 
their moisture and fertility by their wide-reaching roots, 
which should be cufc oS. by sinking a deep trench between 
them and the garden. 

Soils. — The soil may be anything but brick clay, 
theoretically a light sandy loam is best, but here, again, 
astonishing results are often obtained on forbidding 
soils ; for instance, on sticky red clays and sands, the 
latter seemingly no better than those of the seashore. 
No soil should be considered entirely bad until it has 
been proven so. 

So much of success or failure in garden operations 
depends upon the natural character of soil, that the 
composition of each field of a farm should be closely 
observed, if not in the scientific view of geological 
formation and chemical composition, then in the more 
ordinary view of the mechanical conditions, as respects 
texture, weight, porosity, adhesiveness and aeration. 

Soils may be divided into three divisions, as respects 
their origin : 

1st. Sedimentary — A soil formed, entirely out of 
the local rocks. 

2d. Drift — Soils formed out of divers materials, 
irregularly mixed and deposited without stratifioatioM. 

3d. Alluvial — A soil of flood deposit by water, 
the finer particles being on the top. 

This soil is the only one, as a rule, of any agricul- 
tural value, and it may be said to be derived from 
broken, pulverized, decomposed rock brought by water 
from many and far distant parts and deposited in layers, 



LOCATIONS- AND SOILS. 19 

the heavier being at the bottom and the lighter at the 
top. An alluvial soil may be divided into four distinct 
classes : 

1st. Gravelly — So styled from the abundance of 
small stones or pebbles of granite, slate, feldspar and 
limestone. 

2d. Sandy — So styled from its composition of 
small grains of rock. Coarse sands are generally unprof- 
itable, while finer sands are more fertile. 

3d, Loamy — So styled as being between the poros- 
ity of sand, and the tenacity of clay. 

4th. Clayey — So styled from its fineness of texture 
and retentive power of water. A soil drying and crack- 
ing under the effects of hot sun. 

A soil, to be fertile, must contain a sufficient quan- 
tity of the ash ingredients of tlie plants to be cultivated, 
and these must be in such soluble condition as to be 
taken up by the growing plants. Soils once fertile are 
said to bo exhausted when deprived of such food as is 
required for plant nutrition, but rest and meliorating 
treatment will, in time, restore such soils to a fertile 
condition. 

Drainage. 

A soil has good drainage when it is of such compo- 
sition that the rain filters away without flooding the sur- 
face, and when, in time of drouth, the evil effects are 
lessened by the ability of the soil particles to absorb 
moisture from the ait,' and raise it from the subsoil. 

A soil, to be adapted to gardening purposes, must 
have fair drainage, either natural or artificial, and it is 
the wisest course to select land naturally possessing these 
desirable conditions, as the construction of artificial 
drains is an expensive operation, often doubling the 
original cost of the land. 

Good drainage, like tillage, has a vitalizing effect, 
admitting of the entry of air and the deposition of its 



20 MAEKET GAEDEKING. 

oxygen, carbon and nitrogeD ; it also warms the soils, 
Avhile poorly drained land, by the course of evaporation, 
becomes cold. By deepening the soil, we make it tillable 
soon after rain, early in the spring, and prevent it from 
becoming sour, hastening the chemical actions so neces- 
sary in promoting the growth of crops. 

Tillage and Cultivation. 

These operations, often spoken of as the same pro- 
cess, are distinct operations, tillage being the breaking 
and pulverizing of the soil, a preparation of a seed bed, 
the work preparatory to the sowing of seed. Cultivation 
is that work done after the germination of the seed, 
with the view of developing a rapid growth of the plant, 
and, incidentally, the suppression of weeds. 

In tillage, the ground is broken by plow, spade, or 
other implement, with a view of dividing the particles 
of earth and increasing the internal superfices of the 
soil, for the purpose of holding moisture and absorbing 
nutritive principles from the air. Tillage is necessary 
on land of any character, and the more tillage the better 
the results, for delicate roots cannot take up nourish- 
ment as well amid a rough, cloddy, undisintegrated soil, 
as crops in close contact with a soil well pulverized, 
which affords, within a limited area, a greater percent- 
age of available air, moisture, organic and inorganic 
matter. 

Tillage is best performed with a spade, but as this 
is a slow, expensive, and exceedingly laborious process, 
digging can only be pursued in small gardens. On 
tracts of an area of one-eighth of an acre and over, the 
plow, in this country, becomes a necessity, and this 
implement has now been lightened and perfected so as to 
do the work almost equal to digging itself. Plowing 
twice over always pays, three plowings is said to be equal 
to one manuring. A garden soil may hold plant 



LOCATION" AKD SOILS. 21 

food enough for five crops, but be practically barren if 
the fertilizing materials are locked up in impenetrable 
clods. In tillage, the plow is followed by the harrow, 
the clod crusher and the roller. Frost is one of the best 
pulverizers, and it is a well recognized fact that we gen- 
erally have poor summer crops succeeding mild winters, 
a consequence of a want of frost action on the soil. 

Cultivation is the breaking and working of the soil 
whilst the crop is growing; the tillage had previously 
loosened and divided the particles of soil, but during 
that period of time between the cessation of tillage and 
the germination and vegetation of the plant the soil, in 
part, reverts to its more natural solidity, and it is then 
that cultivation comes in, as an endeavor to retaiij.,#h^t 
friability so necessary to the extension of the jijefots and 
their ready nutrition ; thus, tillage must always be sun- 
plemented by cultivation. To cultivate a crop means 
to pursue that course with the soil which hastens the 
development of the plants, and incidentally with this 
comes in the destruction of weeds, which, allowed to 
grow, starve the sown plants by robbing them of nutri- 
ment. Labor given to tillage, except preparation for 
broadcast crops, will be, to a large extent, wasted, unless 
supplemented by such culture of the growing crop as 
will preserve the earth in a loose and fresh condition. 
Jethro TuU, a well known agricultural writer, many 
years ago said, "Tillage is manure." 



CHAPTER III. 

The SciEisrcE of Gardeistixg, 

Gardening, as pursued in its higher sense, is both 
an art and a science. It has arrived at this estate by 
slow gradations, compared with the development of 
many other pursuits, but that is consequent upon its 
complex nature. The development of a knowledge of 
geology, chemisbry, meteorology, vegetable physiology 
and botany, indeed, something from all branches of 
human knowledge, has gone to perfect the science of 
agriculture and horticulture ; pursuits affording as wide 
a range of research in their ramifications as any subject 
engaging the mind of man, and fully as important in 
their results. Agriculture, though practiced in early 
days without any correct knowledge of cause and effect, 
was always held in high esteem. Columella, contempo- 
rary with Virgil, wrote, "The art of husbandry is so 
necessary for the support of human life, and the com- 
fortable subsistence and happiness of mankind have so 
great a dependence upon it, that the wisest men in all 
ages have ascribed its origin to G-od, as the inventor and 
ordainer of it, and the wisest of civilized nations, who 
have best understood their true interests, have always 
endeavored to promote and improve it, and have never 
failed to acknowledge and honor, as public benefactors, 
all such as have contributed anything towards the same." 
In colonial days our forefathers were almost entirely 
dependent upon agriculture. Washington, in his agri- 
cultural correspondence with Sir John Sinclair, wrote, 
"It will not be doubted that, in reference either to indi- 

22 



THE SCIENCE OF GAEDENIXG. 23 

viduals or to national welfare, agriculture is of primary 
importance." Webster, of our own generation, wrote, 
''Agriculture feeds us, to a great extent, clothes us; 
without it we could not have manufacturers, and we 
should not have commerce. These all stand in a clus- 
ter, the largest in the center, and that largest is agri- 
culture." Agriculture is, indeed, the most fruitful 
source of the riches of a country, and of the welfare of 
its inhabitants, and only as the state of agriculture is 
more or less flourishing can we judge of the progress of 
a people. 

Grardening, which is agriculture upon circumscribed 
areas, has ever shared with the latter the esteem of man- 
kind. Socrates said, "It is the source of health, 
strength, plenty, riches and honest pleasure; and an 
eminent English writer said, "It is amid its scenes and 
pursuits that life flows pure, the heart more calmly 
beats." 

Agriculture refers to the tillage of the earth over 
broad fields, as for the raising of cereals, grass or tubers. 
Gardening, on the other hand, refers to the culture of 
small inclosed areas. This application of the latter term 
was quite correct originally, but it is now common for 
mere vegetable gardens to equal the area of ordinary 
grain and grass farms, requiring, in their cultivation, a 
degree of skill and an amount of activity, implements 
and labor, exceeding that expended upon large farms. 

Gardening again differs from farming in the range 
of varieties cultivated. The farmer may devote his acres 
to those crops to which his land is adapted, but the gar- 
dener is expected to grow the entire list of vegetables, 
without reference to the composition of the soil. Such 
cultivation, to be successful, must be, to some extent, 
scientific. The cultivator must possess a knowledge of 
the facts and principles which underlie his art, or he 
will certainly fail. 



24 MAEKET GARDEl!;riFG. 

Viewed in the light of the present age, how ridicu- 
lous the directions of the ancients appear ! Take Vir- 
gil's Georgics, for instance ; he, the prince of Latin 
poets, possessing at once the highest intelligence of his 
day, experience as a husbandman, and with the stimulus 
of a royal commission to revive the decaying spirit of 
husbandry by the insinuating charms of poetry ; how 
crude his teachings pertaining to the laws governing the 
development of nature in the vegetable and animal 
kingdoms ! Charming to read, even now, and correct 
still in many practices, yet we are continually Jarred by 
directions the opposite- of scientific teaching and experi- 
ence. The ancients were ignorant of vegetable physiol- 
ogy. Virgil, Pliny and Columella taught that any cion 
might be grafted on any stock; Pliny mentions the 
effect of grafting the vine on the elm, and other ridicu- 
lous unions. Notwithstanding the numerous supersti- 
tions of the Eomans, they had acquired many facts per- 
taining to husbandry; they pruned, watered, fenced, 
forced, and retarded blossoms and fruit much as we do. 
Cato, in the second century before the Christian era, 
writing upon agriculture, said, ''What is good tillage? 
First, to plow ; second, to plow ; third, to manure. 
The other part of tillage is to sow plentifully, to choose 
your seed cautiously, and to remove as many weeds as 
possible in the season." Thus, it will be perceived, 
quite a practical view of agriculture was taken two 
thousand years ago. 

Despite the teachings of the ancients, agriculture 
has for centuries been weighed down by ignorance, prej- 
udice and imperfect action. The force of custom in 
every country has held the farmer in chains; and such 
still is, alas, too often the case, even in this land of 
progress. But to what better pursuit can an able mind 
turn than to agriculture ? Without it men would live 
wandering lives, disputing with each other for the pos- 



THE SCIENCE OF GARDENING. 25 

session of such animals as they could catch, and for the 
spontaneous fruits of the earth. Without agriculture 
there would be no bond of security or love of country ; 
it is, in all countries, the purest source of public 
prosperity. 

One of the greatest of all the sources of enjoyment 
resulting from the possession of a garden, is the endless 
variety which it affords, both in the processes of vegeta- 
tion as it goes forward to maturity, dormancy, or decay, 
and in the almost innumerable kinds of plants which 
may be raised, even in the smallest garden. Add to it a 
small greenhouse, what a source of pleasure and instruc- 
tion does it not hold out to the amateur ? Exactly in 
proportion as the outdoor work becomes less urgent the 
indoor operations become more numerous. The amuse- 
ments and the products which a small glass house affords 
in the hands of an expert or an ingenious amateur are 
almost without end. Labor in dealing with inanimate 
objects has not that enticement and recreation about it 
which is ever present to him who, aiding nature, wit- 
nesses the results of daily toil in living plants changing 
their forms and colors day by day. Thus, there is a 
deal of enjoyment to be derived from the different oper- 
ations of gardening, independently altogether of the 
health resulting from the exercise. 

Investigation into any one of the principles of vege- 
table growth will develop another, and they, in time, 
will be found so intimately connected with all the allied 
branches of natural science as to create a desire for fur- 
ther knowledge of what before were mysteries, but which 
the intelligence of the present age has developed into 
science. A well-cultivated garden will awaken inquiry, 
and start trains of thought and study which otherwise 
would not be pursued. The close observer will desire to 
make microscopic observations of the germination of 
plants, of the growth of fungi, of insect life; and here 



26' MARKET GARDENIK"G. 

■we pause, for there is opened a volume of nature new to 
most men, and a source of unexpected pleasure. At the 
beo-inning of this century any investigation into the 
agency of insects, for good or evil, in connection with 
vegetation, was scarcely considered as belonging to gar- 
dening ; their eggs passed unnoticed, and the ravages of 
the larvaa were looked upon frequently as atmospheric 
blights beyond control. Now the entomologist is con- 
sulted every day by the agriculturist and gardener, and 
no section of the museum of the United States Depart- 
ment of Agriculture is more interesting than that 
devoted to entomology. Countries of temperate climates 
in an undeveloped condition support a limited number 
of species of insect life, and they are generally harmless 
to vegetation, but, under culture, conditions favorable to 
their increase are presented. One of these conditions is 
the wanton destruction of birds, after which follow the 
myriad tribes of insects which feed upon vegetation ; 
species not alone native to the country, but brought in 
the course of commerce from all parts of the world. 
For example, the Hessian fly is supposed to have been 
brought here in the straw used by the Hessian troops 
during the Eevolution. The cabbage butterfly was 
brought first into Montreal in cases of crockery from 
Holland. In ten or twelve years it has extended from 
the St. Lawrence to the Eio Grande. 

The intelligent culturist will be brought to notice 
the effect of various forms of potash, nitrogen and lime ; 
he will gradually be drawn into geological research, for 
he must study the peculiar features of the soil. Finally, 
he will find that the birds are his co-partners in the gar- 
den, and the common tomtit or sparrow will no longer 
be looked npon with a careless eye by reason of his dull 
colors, but each one welcomed as the destroyer of mil- 
lions of injurious insects. Even so the bat, ugly and of 
nocturnal habit, will no longer be driven away or looked 



THE SCIENCE OF GARDENING. 27 

upon with disgust, but regarded as a most useful ally. 
Of what does gardening consist ? Of obtaining from the 
earth vegetables and fruits for man and domestic ani- 
mals ; and the perfection of the art is to obtain the 
greatest possible product at the least possible expense. 
From the earliest times gardening has advanced, and 
receiving always the first attention, it has, in each suc- 
ceeding generation, become more perfect than in the 
one preceding. 

The development of field and garden culture to its 
present condition is the result of the union of theory 
and practice. The greatest expansion has been in a 
chemical and physiological point of view, and this devel- 
opment, strange as it may seem, dates back not farther 
than forty years. Agriculture and horticulture before 
that time may be said to have been conducted under a 
Virgilian system ; cultivators adhering more to blind 
custom than to reason. In the year 1795 the first book 
in English upon the relations of agriculture and chem- 
istry was published, and, though containing some truth, 
its teachings are ridiculous under the light of the 
present day. 

The first accurate analyses of a vegetable was not 
made till the year 1810, and so late as 1838 the Grottin- 
gen Academy offered a prize for a satisfactory solution 
of the question whether the ingredients of the ashes are 
essential to vegetable growth. The last forty years have 
placed agriculture upon a scientific foundation, and the 
strides of development have been wonderful. The inves- 
tigations of all scientific men, in their particular pur- 
suits, have served to dispel ancient theories and develop 
the intricate system of germination, subsistence and 
growth. 

It is, fortunately, the case that every soil holds 
more or less of the inorganic parts essential to vegetable 
growth. They may be briefly enumerated as sulphates. 



28 MARKET GARDENING. 

phosphates, nitrates, chlorides and carbonates of potash, 
lime, magnesia, iron and ammonia. Those ingredients 
that are deficient in quantity can be readily added by 
the application of stable manure, which contains every- 
thing desirable, or by specific application of the constit- 
uent wanting. The time has come when every farmer 
must possess some knowledge of natural history ; he 
must prepare himself, if he expects to follow his pursuit 
successfully, as much as does the mechanic or the pro- 
fessional man. Why should not the national govern- 
ment establish at frontier army posts agricultural experi- 
ment stations? This nation is eminently agricultural, 
and it is within the province of the government to 
develoj) its resources in every practical way. 

The war department and the agricultural, working 
in connection, could, in a few years, establish a series of 
experiment stations, at once of national importance 
and of hygienic advantage to each garrison. A post 
garden is practicable at any military station ; of course, 
under so great a variety of conditions as presented to 
the soldiers of an army, each garden would differ from 
the other in some particulars ; some upon mountain 
slopes, others in valleys, on plains both fertile and arid ; 
all influenced by meteorological conditions of widely 
different effect. Such gardens would have to conform 
to circumstances, and the more difficult these circum- 
stances may be to surmount, the more pleasure in the 
results, both in a gastronomic and scientific view. 

In Europe they do some things better than we, not- 
withstanding our boasted practicability, and foremost 
among their advances is that of public instruction. To- 
day, in Austria and Sweden, there are many thousands 
of public schools having gardens attached, where are 
taught botany, vegetable physiology, and sometimes the 
Avhole range of science and art so necessary to a thorough 
understanding of vegetable growth and development. 



THE SCIENCE OF GARDENUSTG. 29 

Sweden alone possesses two thousand public school-- 
gardens, and there, as in Austria, the system has become 
so popular that all new school buildings have one room 
set apart as a school-garden room, where are assembled 
herbariums, works on agriculture, geology, agricultural 
chemistry and ]ohysiology, and apparatus used by the 
teachers in their lectures upon plant-life. The public 
school law passed in Austria in 1869, provided that "In 
every school a gymnastic ground, a garden for the 
teacher, according to the circumstances of the commun- 
ity, and a place for the purposes of agricultural experi- 
ment be created." The school inspectors of each dis- 
trict are instructed "^To see to it that in the country 
schools school-gardens shall be provided for agricultural 
instruction in all that relates to the soil, and that the 
teacher shall make himself skillful in such instruction." 
The general law declares, *' Instruction in natural his- 
tory is indispensable to suitably established school-gar- 
dens. The teachers must, therefore, be in a condition 
to conduct them." Contrast this thoughtful care with 
the system, or rather, want of system, for the finer 
instruction of the mind pursued in the public schools of 
our rural districts ! The time will come when, in this 
country, as in Europe, more j)racticed attention must be 
paid to the practical instruction of the masses in our 
country districts than now ; our boasted public school 
system, though not retrograding in our cities, has, in 
the country districts, been far outstripped by that of 
Germany, Sweden and Scotland, where technical educa- 
tion is now given, fitting the pupils, as men and women, 
to deal with the affairs of agricultural life. 



CHAPTEE IV. 

Chemistry of the Garden". 

The chemistry of the garden is that science which 
attempts to define the action of plauts upon the chemi- 
ical constituents of the soil and air ; consequently 
includes the studies of garden geology, the nature of 
minerals composing the soil, vegetable physiology and 
plant nutrition, each indicating how the chemical sub- 
stances are made use of by the vegetable world. The 
subject of agricultural chemistry is a voluminous and 
intricate one, and only a very brief reference can be 
made to it here. Nothing more can be here attempted, 
than to lead the reader to desire for further information, 
obtainable from the writings and reports of men like 
Lawes and Gilbert, of England, Samuel W. Johnson, 
and others, of this country. All garden and farm plants 
may, as respects their food, be divided into three classes : 

First: — Those requiring an excess of potash, as 
peas, beans, potatoes, clover, flax. 

Second: — Those requiring much nitrogen, as beets, 
cabbage, oats, wheat, barley and hemp. 

Third: — Those requiring large amounts of phos- 
phoric acid, as radish, turnip and corn. 

Plants draw some food from the air by their leaves, 
but most from the earth by their roots. The composition 
of the air is quite constant, but the character of the soil is 
exceedingly variable, and crops grown continuously upon 
a soil draw out one or more of its nutritive principles ; 
consequently, it can only be reinvigorated by returning 
to it those elements removed in the crops. 

30 



CHEMISTRY OF THE GARDEN". 31 

In general, the method of maintaining fertility of soils 
is by the application of stable or barnyard manure, which 
may be termed the king of manures, as it can be pro- 
duced upon every farm, and contains, when good, all 
the ingredients needed to make a complete and assimila- 
ble manure. Most prominent among these ingredients 
are nitrogen compounds, phosphate of lime, potash and 
lime. All soils, however, do not need the addition of 
all four agents ; nitrogenous fertilizers are often not 
needed for peas, beans and clover, leguminous crops. 
The nitrogenized matter, on the other hand, is often 
applied to wheat, barley, oats, beets, turnips, and it may 
be said to be necessary to every crop. 

The potash, the active principle of wood ashes, is a 
suitable fertilizer for peas, beans, clover, flax and pota- 
toes. The phosphate of lime is largely drawn upon by 
corn, turnip and radish. The chief supply, in a com^- 
mercial way, is from bones which contain phosphate 
of lime, carbonate of lime, a little gelatine, albumen 
and oil. 

The lime, ordinarily in the form of carbonate or 
sulphate, is not so pronounced in its effects, but lime 
must always be present to produce the best results. The 
question may occur, where can these concentrated ingre- 
dients for the manufacture of a complete manure be 
obtained ; and we meet the query by saying, assimilable 
nitrogen may be had, to the extent of twenty per cent., 
in sulphate of ammonia, fifteen per cent, in nitrate of 
soda, fourteen per cent, in nitrate of potassa, or in dried 
blood or flesh from slaughter houses or fish factories. 
These nitrates, preferably that of potassa, are best for 
vegetables, especially root crops ; the sulphates for the 
cereals. Phosphate of lime can be had, to the extent of 
fifty per cent., in bone dust, seventy per cent, in bone 
ashes and bone black, and in superphosphate of lime, 
which is phosphate of lime treated with sulphuric acid. 



32 MAEKET GAKDENING. -^ 

and which, when properly done, should contain forty per 
cent, of soluble phosphate. 

Potash is contained in wood ashes, but is obtainable 
in larger quantities in nitrate of potassa, commonly 
known as saltpeter, which salt should contain forty-five 
per cent, potash, with the valuable addition of fourteen 
per cent, of nitrogen. Lime is found chiefly in the car- 
bonate of lime, as chalk or limestone, and in the sul- 
phate of lime, as gypsum or plaster of paris. The sul- 
phate is best, as most soluble. The average prices of 
these four mannrial substances named are : 

Bone phosphate of iinie 14 cents per pound. 

Nitrate of potassa 6J " " " 

Nitrate of soda 2J " " " 

Sulphate of ammonia 3i " " " 

Sulphate of Ihue i " " " 

Bone phosphate varies in commercial value just as 
it is derived from native phosphates, such as South Car- 
olina or Florida rock, or from animal raw bones. It 
is, therefore, difficult to fix a value for bone phosphate 
of lime. 

Application of Chemical Manures. — Chemical 
manures should be distributed as regularly as possible, 
hence the work cannot be done on a windy day. If time 
permits, it is well to double the bulk by a mixture of dam- 
pened loam, and this addition to the bulk insures a more 
even distiibution. In a general way, we recommend the 
following application to the crops indicated. For beans, 
carrots, cucumbers and general garden culture. 

Acid, bone phosphate of lime 300 pounds 

Nitrate of potassa 100 " 

Nitrate of soda 150 " 

Sulphate of lime 150 " 

Costing about sixteen dollars. 

For potatoes we recommend : 

Acid, bone phosphate of lime 250 pounds 

Nitrate of potassa 150 " 

Sulphate of lime 150 " 

Costing about fifteen dollars. 



CHEMISTRY OF THE GARDEN. 33 

For turnips, ruta baga, corn, sorghum : 

Acid, bone phosphate of lime 300 pounds 

Nitrate of potassa 100 '• 

Sulphate of lime 200 " 

Costing about thirteen dollars. 

For beans, peas and clover : 

Acid, bone phosphate of lime 200 pounds 

Nitrate of potassa 150 " 

Sulphate of lime 200 " 

Costing about fourteen dollars. 

For wheat, barley, oats and pasture : 

Acid iJhosphate of lime 100 pounds 

Nitrate of potassa 100 " 

Sulphate of ammonia 100 " 

Sulphate of lime 100 " 

Costing about twelve dollars. 

The unexampled collection of wheats shown by Lan- 
dreth & Son at the Centennial International Exhibition 
of 1876, were grown on Bloomsdale Farm, fertilized by a 
preparation made after the last named prescription. 

The writer has said stable manure is king, but it 
cannot always be obtained in quantity, nor at the desired 
periods; failing to obtain it for present use, we recom- 
mend chemical manures, which, used in seasons not too 
dry, may do equally well at less cost ; but if time permits, 
green manures will be found the cheapest. 

Mtrogenized matter in the soil is absolutely neces- 
sary to the growth of vigorous crops, and the fact cannot 
be too strongly impressed on every gardener that nitro- 
gen and phosphoric acid are the leading m anuria! ad- 
ditions required, and a cheap and efficient method of 
aj)plication should occupy his constant attention. Ni- 
trogen, in the form of atmospheric ammonia, is largely 
obtained by plants through their leaves, but to an equally 
large extent does the soil get it by absorption, and, if 
covered, it holds it, and in this simple fact is one of the 
secrets of green manuring. Any cover, whether of 
boards, hay, straw, or uncut grass, renders the soil 
quite as fertile by the retention of nitrogen as by the 
3 



34 MARKET GARDENI2S"G. 

direct value of the constituent parts of the hay, straw, 
or green matter upon the surface. 

That the soil becomes of higher fertility when cov- 
ered by matter, inert or otherwise, so that the air is not 
excluded, cannot be denied. A case is known to the 
writer where a remarkable fertility was shown by a soil 
which had been covered two years by a board floor on 
the surface of an open field, the explanation being that 
the soil daily absorbs ammonia from the air, from rain, 
dew, and decay of organic matter, while, on the other 
hand, if not covered, these absorptions are as rapidly lost 
by volatilization. 

Of course, the most natural and cheapest covering 
for the soil is a green crop, and if the green manuring 
is to be done between spring and autumn, experience 
points to corn as the best crop, two half -grown crops 
being better than one allowed to reach such a develop- 
ment as to be diflScult to plow under, the first crop being 
planted at the usnal season, and the second sixty to 
seventy days subsequently, the latter crop being plowed 
under after frost checks its growth. 

On Bloomsdale Farm, this system has been pursued 
with profit, but, better still, rye sown in the October 
following the corn. Eye has proved to be the best green 
manure sown in October or November, and, when prop- 
erly put in, will produce a sponge-like mat of from four 
to five tons of root fibers and fifteen to sixteen tons of 
green herbage to turn under in April or May, and early 
enough, except in the far South, for crops of potatoes, 
onions, melons and corn. Eye, grown during autumn 
and winter, only occupies the ground during a season when 
no other crop except wheat would be standing out, and it 
covers the soil during a critical period. The cost of a 
green crop of rye should not be over four dollars to the 
acre, say one dollar for seed, one and a half dollars for 
the preparation of the land, one and a half dollars for 
turnins: under. 



MANURE AND FERTILIZERS. 35 

Four crops of green manure can be turned down in 
seventeen months, by seeding rye in October, corn in 
April, a second crop of corn in July, and rye again in 
October, to be plowed under in April. This rotation 
will surprise the experimenter, who will see his soil 
made fertile, friable, and in general vigor far beyond its 
previous condition, all due to the valuable component 
parts of the vegetable matter plowed under, and to the 
absorption and retention of nitrogen by the soil conse- 
quent upon the extended covering of the surface. From 
the earliest agricultural records green manuring has 
been practiced, and whole districts of country in Europe 
have been rendered fertile by such practice. A large 
district in Germany, once a barren, is now most fertile, 
all due to the use of the lupine, which plant, however, 
does not offer such good results under the hot sun of the 
American climate. 



CHAPTER Y; 

Stable Manure, Compost and Commeeoial 
Fertilizers. 

Stable manure of g'ood quality cannot be obtained 
in every locality, and it may be practical to consider, 
first, how poor stable manure can be improved, and, 
secondly, how a poor grade may be mixed with other 
materials to form a compost. Stable manure, in its gen- 
eral designation, indicates all the refuse from the stall 
and barnyard, and, consequently, includes good, bad 
and indifferent. Of course, the prominent material in 
stable manure is straw of wheat, rye, oats or barley, 
with smaller proportions of hay or fodder — these mixed 
with the droppings and urine of cattle. The quality 



36 MARKET GARDENING. 

varies with the proportion, in the mass, of the excretion 
of animals. Stable manure is best applied when well 
broken up by fermentation. If not decayed but in long 
strawy condition, or otherwise green condition, it should 
be piled till fermentation sets in to reduce it, or it 
should be composted. 

In strong fermented stable manure there is often 
developed an immense number of insect larva, the rich 
mass attracting the mature insects, in which they lay 
their eggs ; which dung also frequently developes many 
varieties of fungous growth, ready to effect lodgment on 
such crops as may be naturally fitted for their further 
development. The best stable manure is that exclu- 
sively from the stables of well fed horses, as such is com- 
posed only of hoy, straw, urine and horse dung, digested 
and half digested food of forage and grass, the richer the 
food -given to the horse the better the excrement. This, 
as taken from the stalls, is known as fresh manure, and 
is slow in fertilizing action. To render it active agri- 
culturally it must be piled, that fermentation may pro- 
ceed to break down the component parts and bring them 
into condition to afford quick nutrition to growing 
plants. The fresh manure is suitable for application in 
winter, or to a crop requiring a slow fertilization, but to 
spring and autumn crops in the garden it is too slow, 
consequently if we use stable manure to develop an early 
effect it must be rotten, or short, as it is termed. 

The value of stable manure, of course, varies in 
every locality. Farmers in 'New York, Pennsylvania 
and Delaware pay for stable manure delivered on railroad 
cars eighty to one hundred miles out from the city, from 
New York and Philadelphia, 12.00 per ton including 
freight. The cleanings from stalls should be piled as 
taken out, and this is best done under a shed, as too 
frequent rains wash out a portion of the most soluble 
ingredients, though a limited amount of water must be 



MANUEE AND FEETILIZERS. 37 

present in the pile all the time or the man are will burn 
or grow white within the pile, and its value be injured 
as much as if subjected to too much water ; thus, as in 
all things, there is a happy medium. Stable manure of 
indifferent quality, strawy, not rich in dung, containing 
little digested or half-digested grain, not putrefactive, 
may be started into more rapid fermentation by densely 
piling it, and, as it is piled, watering it with a ferment- 
ing solution. 

Fermenting Lye. — The solution, or lye, may be 
compared to horse urine, and will exert the same effect 
in starting a like fermentation. To every ton of crude 
stable manure apply the lye as the manure is corded up 
in ten inch layers. The ingredients necessary to make 
the lye to test a ton of crude stable manure need not 
cost more than one dollar, and are : Two bushels of 
pulverized quicklime, one bushel of land plaster, one- 
fourth bushel of common refuse salt, three pounds of 
saltpeter, three pounds of muriatic acid, stirred in with 
three barrels of rich barnyard water. The lye can be 
made in oil or whisky barrels, and, after making, should 
stand several hours before application. Barnyard water, 
the drainage from manure, is almost as important as 
the solid parts, as, to a considerable extent, it is a 
diluted solution of urine, the very agent which the 
preparation is intended to represent in its action. The 
larger the bulk the more perfect will be the action 
of the lye. 

Compost.— Compost, in an agricultural sense, is 
understood to be a compounded manure of the varied 
collections of the garden, as crude stable manure, swamp 
mud, leaves, weeds, swamp grass, sea grass, old sods, 
king crabs, jelly fish, fresh or salt fish, tobacco stems, 
pumice from cider mills, waste wool, refuse from soap 
factories, tallow waste from slaughter houses, and any 
vegetable or animal product. The compost pile, if made 



38 MARKET GARDENING. 

of good materials, should be a well disintegrated mass of 
equal quality, throughout, in fertilizing substances, in 
ready condition for quick assimilation by plants. The 
process of fermentation and disintegration may be has- 
tened in compost piles by the same application of a fer- 
menting solution as described for coarse stable manure. 
For one ton of compost we recommend two bushels 
of powdered quicklime, one bushel of land plaster, one- 
half bushel of refuse salt, ten pounds of saltpeter, ten 
l^ounds of muriatic acid, all mixed in three barrels of 
barnyard water. This mixture, costing about two dol- 
lars and a half, will weigh about thirteen hundred jjounds, 
and, if further diluted, as would be advisable, the ton 
of compost, when treated, will weigh two tons. In the 
application of the lye, the compost should be worked, 
and packed up in a square, round, or other compact 
form, applying the solution to every layer of five or six 
inches, that the lye may dampen every portion. 

Commercial Fertilizers. 

A commercial fertilizer is an article of concenti'afced 
strength, and adapted to transportation, storage and 
easy application. These fertilizers may be divided into 
three classes. First, articles found in natural deposits, 
as Peruvian guano or Chili saltpeter. Second, articles 
resulting from a manufacture or pi'ocess, as fish chum 
from the oil works, dried blood from the slaughter house, 
graves from tallow works, or odorless phosphate from 
the basic process of making Bessemer steel. Third, 
compounded materials, those requiring manufacture, as 
superphosphate, and the various combinations of potash 
and soda. While commercial manures were used in 
England fifty years ago, they did not become common 
in the United States until about 1844, wdien Peruvian 
guano was introduced, and this, then as now (more so 
then than now), was a complete manure, the early ship- 



MA]!fURE AND FEKTILTZERS. 39 

ments sometimes containing as much nitrogen as phos- 
phoric acid, and also a large percentage of potash. 

The chief merit of Peruvian guano is due to the 
fact that it has been accumulated in a region where it 
never rains, as upon the Ohincha Islands, or only occa- 
sionally upon the Labos Islands, and though fifty per 
cent, of Peruvian guano is soluble in water it thus 
remained intact, and did so remain for ages, until 
the deposits, in some places, accumulated to one hundred 
feet in thickness, the droppings from birds, and other 
materials, all derived from the weeds and fish of the sea. 
There are other bird guanos collected from various 
islands in other seas, but having been subjected to rains, 
have lost most of their nitrogen and potash, the phos- 
phoric acid being retained ; these have been termed 
phosphatic guanos, while the Chilian grades are termed 
nitrogenous guanos. The natural sources of phosphoric 
acid are the rock phosphate, extensively used by the 
superphosphate manufacturers, large quantities being 
brought from the island of Navassa, near St. Domingo, 
and from the South Carolina and Florida phosphate 
beds. The artificial sources of supply are the vast plains 
of South America, from whence have been collected and 
exported the bones of innumerable herds of cattle slain 
for their hides, and millions of others dying from nat- 
ural causes, during the past one hundred and fifty years. 

Potash, used commercially as a fertilizer, was at first 
derived from wood ashes, and often from feldspar, and 
the supply was long insufiicient ; but about 1860 the 
salt miners of Prussia discovered large deposits of potash 
salts, which have since been the main supply for the 
manufacture of fertilizers the world over, the damaging 
chloride of magnesium being first removed. These 
Prussian mines are vast deposits of saline matter, evi- 
dently crystalized out of sea water. Before crude salts 
can be advantageously sold and transported they have to 



40 MARKET GARDENING. 

go through a course of preparation which, according to 
the nature of the deposit and the process, develops sul- 
phate of potash and muriate of potash. 

Nitrogen, as an article of commerce, has been 
obtained in large quantities from Peru and Chili, in the 
form of Chili saltpeter, found in the interior of those 
countries in vast quantities, sometimes many feet in 
thickness. As much as four million tons have been 
exported annually, but the Peruvian government has 
now reserved these deposits for domestic use. Of course, 
there are other sources of nitrogen, especially in the by- 
products of manufactures, for example, sulphate of 
ammonia, from gas works. Animal nitrogen is largely 
obtained from fish scrap, of which sixty thousand tons 
are annually produced on the Atlantic coast. Of course, 
the raw or fresh fish will furnish this same ammonia. 
The writer has plowed under, on his firm's farms in 
Lancaster county, Virginia, from seven to nine millions 
of fish annually; the fish being menhaden, a species 
slightly smaller than herring. Cracklings from the tal- 
low works, dried blood and tankage from slaughter 
houses, are valuable sources of supply for agricultural 
nitrogen. 

By the introduction of commercial fertilizers farm 
operations have been freed from the restrictions and 
limitations imposed by the deficient sources of home- 
made manures, and the intelligent farmer may vastly 
extend his operations, while the scientific one turns his 
farm into a factory, where he endeavors, sometimes, with 
the aid of climatic influences, and sometimes defeated 
by such influences, to manufacture his j)roducts. 

The world-wide use of commercial fertilizers has 
served to establish a standard of agricultural value of all 
the ingredients, and their high price has stimulated the 
inquiring gardener to a closer scrutiny into the entire 
subject, not only of plant nutrition, but as respects 



SOWING SEEDS. 41 

human foods. He is thus lifted above the laborious 
routine of digging, plowing and harrowing, and becomes 
a student of nature. By the application of commercial 
manure the gardener has an advantage over the use of 
stable manure in the avoidance of adding to the stock -of 
weed seed natural to his land, stable manure always con- 
taining more or less seeds of grain or weeds. The use 
of commercial fertilizers, on the other hand, while rais- 
ing agriculture to a higher level of intellectual thought, 
has made a large class of farmers indifferent, if, indeed, 
not strangers, to the old school methods of farm recu- 
peration, a condition much to be regretted. 

Commercial fertilizers will always be in demand, and 
much of the success of our agriculturists depends upon 
the capital and talent of the manufacture of such ma- 
nures. A fair amount of confidence can be placed in 
well made fertilizers, due principally to the enactment 
of laws by several of the State legislatures requiring from 
manufacturers sworn statements of analysis, and also to 
the very critical investigations and comparisons made at 
the various State experiment stations. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Sowing Seeds. 

In this we refer to the sowing or planting of the 
seeds of vegetables or flowers in the 02Jen garden. Every 
sane man knows that a preparation of the land is neces- 
sary, but when and how to make the preparation can 
only be learned by reading, observation or experience. 
Experience in the garden, like experience in all matters 
of life, is the most practical teacher ; when and how to 
dig or plow, when to harrow or rake, to clean the 



42 MARKET GARDENING. 

ground, to fertilize, to open trenches, or cast up ridges, 
wliether to drill in long parallel rows, or across narrow- 
beds, all of which operations are preliminary to the 
actual operations of seeding. The practice of seeding 
differs on the part of equally capable men ; the conditions, 
the quantity to be grown, and whether for family or 
market garden, leading to variations in processes. 

Much disappointment in the garden often results 
from ignorant practices, as from unseasonable sowing, 
as from too deep or too shallow covering, from injudi- 
cious selection of varieties, from inefficient thinning out 
that the plants may have room to properly develop, from 
want of preparatory tillage and subsequent cultivation. 
Of course, the amount of seed properly sown to the acre, 
or to the row, by persons of equal experience, differs as 
much as does their process of sowing or method of culti- 
vation. It is generally considered, however, that it is 
unwise to spare the amount of seed, as the difference in 
cost of a thick seeding, compared with a thin one, 
amounts to little as compared with the disappointment, 
and, still greater, the loss resulting from a deficient stand 
of plants. Ordinarily the quantity of seed to be sown is 
said to be so many bushels or so many pounds to the 
acre, but this does not, by any means, indicate to the 
gardener, who may only have one acre on which to plant 
all his crops, the amount he should obtain to meet his 
necessities. It is better, in such cases, to indicate the 
quantity of seed required to sow one hundred yards of 
continuous rows, as the gardener, measuring the length 
of the rows intended to be devoted to various kinds of 
plants, can calculate exactly how many ounces or quarts 
he should procure. Such a ready table for reference 
will be found in the following : 

Seeds Required for a Row One Hundred Yards Long. 
One ounce of cabbage, cauliflower, coUarcls, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, 

egg-plant, kale, kolil-rabi, pepper, squash, pumpkin, tomato, 

turnip. 



SOWING SEEDS. 43 

Two ounces of onion, leek, lettuce, endive, parsley, canteloupe. 

Three ounces of carrot, cress, celery, chervil, water melon, parsnip, 

herbs. 
Four ounces of cucumbers, nasturtium, rhubarb, salsify, scorzonera. 
Five ounces of beet. 
Six ounces of radish, spinach. 

Eight ounces of corn salad. - 

Twelve ounces of olcra, asparagus. 
One pint of field corn. 
One quart of sugar corn. 
Three quarts of bush beans, peas. 

In a country of such diversity of soil and climate as 
the United States, it is difficult, indeed, impossible, to 
advise, except in a very general way, as to processes of 
tillage, seeding and culture. With sixteen hundred and 
fifty miles of territory north and south, three thousand 
five hundred miles east to west, a surface level in some 
places with the sea, in others four to eight thousand feet 
elevation, some districts having an annual rainfall of 
ten to twenty inches, others of one hundred and twenty 
inches, soils differing with varying geological forma- 
tion on two thousand millions of acres, an acreage nearly 
equal to the entire continent of Europe. 

In correspondence the writer accordingly adopts the 
policy of advising inquirers to observe the practice of 
successful gardeners in their respective localities, and 
follow that system as a far safer practice than anything 
he can advise from experience, necessarily limited to 
the Middle States. In the Northern and Middle States 
the average season for open air seeding inay be indicated 
by the blooming of well known trees and shrubs, though 
seeding may be made with profit, both before and after 
such periods, as it is a safe rule, in gardening, to divide 
the risks. For instance, when the peacli is in bloom 
sow those seeds which will germinate in cold soil, resist 
slight frost, as peas, spinach, onion and leek. When 
the oak bursts its leaf buds, sow beet, carrot, celerj^ 
lettuce, parsnip, radish, salsify, turnip, tomato. When 
the Uacklerry is in bloom sow those seeds which will 



44 MARKET GARDENING. 

thrive only in warmer soil, as the bean, corn, cucumber, 
canteloupe. watermelon, pumpkin, squash, okra. 

'No occupation of business, no occupation of pleas- 
ure, affords so much for interesting study, as the growth 
and treatment of vegetables, and the study of their soils, 
their fertilizers and tillage. It must be borne in m-ind, 
however, that those who would avoid labor should leave 
gardening alone, because it is a perpetual combat with 
enemies, rain, drouth, frost, heat, weeds, insects, and 
the unexpected from every quarter. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Germination. 

The process of germination may be said to cover 
that period of time from the moment of planting the 
dry seed to the appearance of the new plant, and con- 
tinuously on till the young plant, exhausting the food 
stored in the mother seed, is capable of sustaining itself 
by attachment to the soil. Very few garden seeds will 
start at a lower temperature than 50°, many requiring a 
warmth of 70°. On the other hand, too much heat 
dries up the germ, few kinds resisting a temperature 
above 120°. The moist, rapid germination of seeds in 
general is at a temjierature from 70° to 90°. Under low 
temperature root growth is very slow, while under high 
temperature the development of roots is far in excess of 
a counter-balancing leaf development. 

Moisture is indispensable to germination, but the 
amount most favorable varies with different plants ; for 
instance, son.3 seeds will only start when in water. Gar- 
den seeds will do best when the land is moist, but not 
wet ; too much moisture causes decay ; and they 



GERMINATION. 45 

may be dinded into two classes, as respects their ger- 
mination, viz, : Cold soil and warm soil seeds, the first 
class comprising peas, onions, lettuce, radish and spin- 
ach ; the second class includes the greater number, 
sprouting freely by the aid of much solar or artificial heat. 

Time for Germination. — The time required in 
germination greatly varies, dependent upon the species 
of plant, the age of the seed and the surrounding condi- 
tions of soil and atmosphere. Under favorable circum- 
stances, peas, beans and corn should sprout in three 
days ; cabbage, turnip and radish in four days ; vine 
seeds, such as melon, squash and cucumber, in five or 
six days. Germination, however, does not guarantee 
vegetation, as seeds shelving a germ may never appear 
above ground if physically weak, if too deeply covered, 
or if the soil is hardened by rain or heat. As a rule, the 
depth for covering seeds should be three to four times 
their diameter. 

Rapid Growth Desirable. — The great principle 
conducive to quick, healthy germination and rapid veg- 
etation is a fine seed bed and good tillage. A rapid 
growth of garden plants is much to be desired, as they 
then outstrip the weeds, and, to a degree, get beyond 
such dangers as floods, grubs and insects, which play 
havoc with young seedlings, especially those of delicate 
structure. Healthy, uniform germination requires 
warmth, moisture, and air, as climatic accessories to a 
finely pulverized soil, which preserves the moisture 
longer than rough land. Seeds, on the other hand, sown 
amid clods and crevices, are, many of them, lost by depth 
of covering, while the rough surface of such land quickly 
bakes and cracks and offers shelter to annoying vermin. 

Vitality of Seeds. — The time during which vege- 
table seeds retain their vitality is very variable, depend- 
ent, first, upon their chemical composition ; second, 
upon the climatic condition under which they were liar- 



46 MAEKET GAEDENING. 

vested ; third, upon the greater or lesser moisture of the 
air in which they are stored ; and, fourth, upon proper 
ventilation of the bags or packages. On the southern 
seaboard, and in the Gulf States, where the air is very 
moist, at times, perfectly fresh seeds frequently lose 
their vitality by the end of the first year, while far inland 
and in dry sections of the country, and especially in 
high latitudes, they may, with few exceptions, be safely 
used the second season. The primary cause, however, 
of difference in period of duration of the growing powers 
of seed, depends principally upon difference in their 
chemical comiDosition. 

All seed may be divided into two classes, those in 
which oil predominates, those in which starch predom- 
inates ; and it is the first which most rapidly change by 
decomposition, the starchy seeds, with the exception of 
corn, being least subject to chemical change and most 
tenacious of life. 

Testing Seeds. — When it is desired to determine 
the vitality of a seed, the test should always be made by 
counting out lots of one hundred seeds, just as they are, 
good, bad and indifferent ; better still, to take several 
lots of one hundred seeds of each variety, that one lot 
may serve to prove the other. In all such eases the 
experimenter should have a sample of another lot of the 
same variety of seed from a distinct source, of which he 
already knows the true vitality, this to serve as a proof 
or standard in estimating the accuracy of the test. The 
test of vitality may be made in a number of ways, the 
most reliable, of course, being in earth ; sandy loam in 
broad pots or trays, well placed as respects heat and 
moisture, or, better still, the seed sown in earth on the 
benches of a greenhouse. 

A second method of testing seeds is by germinating 
them iu flannel cloths suspended over water trays, from 
which the flannel becomes damp by capillary attraction. 



GERMINATION". 47 

By this process, excepting for egg plant, pepper, and 
such other seeds as require heat, a higher test can be 
made than by the earth test, but the flannel test is decep- 
tive, as many seeds will start and show a sprout, while 
unable to make further growth for want of vital force. 
Such seeds, under the flanuel test, are counted as good, 
while under the earth test they never would be counted, 
as they never would appear above the surface, being too 
weak to force their way through the soil. 

A test of somewhat similar character to the flannel 
test can be made by placing the seeds between two bats 
of cotton, each one inch thick and three to four inches 
wide, kept constantly wet and near a stove, or in the sun, 
that the water may not become cold. Seeds of the oily 
class, as cabbage, cauliflower and turnips, should have, 
when first harvested, if gathered under dry conditions, 
and if well cleaned, an average vitality of eighty to 
ninety-five per cent. The second year the percentage 
falls to seventy and eighty per cent; the third year to 
sixty and seventy per cent., and so on in a declining 
scale to nothing after seven or eight years. 

Carrot, parsley, spinach, or parsnip seeds are much 
affected by harvest conditions, and as respects cleaning 
or the separation of the good from the bad, after thresh- 
ing. Tlie first year they grow from seventy to eighty 
per cent., the second year fall to fifty and sixty per cent., 
the third year forty to thirty per cent., and the fourth 
year may be considered valueless. 

Cucumber, canteloupe, squash, pumpkin and water- 
melon require cautious harvesting and washing to pre- 
vent sprouting during the process, and, when well 
washed and dried, have a vitality the first year of eighty 
to ninety per cent., the second year seventy to seventy- 
five per cent., the third year sixty to seventy per cent., 
decreasing over a period of five or six years. 

Pepper, egg plant and okra seed are especially weak 
in vital force, seldom showing over seventy per cent, of 



48 MARKET GARDENING. 

germination the first year, and often not half that the 
second, and sometimes less. Beet seed containing from 
three to five germs to the single capsule will often 
develop three hundred shoots to a hundred seeds, but 
after a period of four years the percentage of vitality 
will fall to twenty-five per cent., though the writer has 
now growing a ten acre crop from a lot of select seed of 
Bassano beet eight years old. American grown onion 
and leek seed varies from seventy to ninety per cent, in 
vitality the first year, falling to about sixty the second 
year and thirty the third. These seeds of English and 
French growth, when brought to the United States, sel- 
dom have a vitality of two-thirds of the percentage of the 
American. Frequently the best English leek seed can- 
not be found to show over twenty-five per cent. Kadish, 
if of American growth, should have a vitality of ninety 
to ninetj'-five per cent, the first year, and will diminish 
ten per cent, for four or five years. Of European growth 
it seldom has over seventy per cent, vitality the first 
year, ofttimes not more than fifty per cent., and the 
second year frequently falling to twenty-five per cent., 
and sometimes less^ by reason of the conditions of exces- 
sive moisture under which it is harvested and cured, 
and the moisture absorbed during the ocean voyage. 

Lettuce, endive, celery and tomato being seeds dif- 
ficult in the separation after threshing of the good from 
the bad, seldom have a vitality of over eighty per cent. 
Lettuce and endive, however, are very retentive of ger- 
minating quality, falling not more than ten per cent. 
per annum, annually, for three or four years, after which 
they decline rapidly to nothing, celery and tomato being 
least vital. 

Peas, well riddled and hand picked, should have a 
vitality the first year, if harvested in dry weather, of 
ninety-five per cent., the second year eighty per cent., 
the third year sixty per cent., after which they will 



GERMI]SrATTO]Sr. 49 

deteriorate so rapidly as to be of no value. Beans are 
much niore liable to injury than peas, ripening during 
later and less favorable weather for drying, and encased 
in more succulent pods. Wax pod beans are especially 
delicate, but when harvested under good conditions and 
hand picked, should have a vitality of ninety to ninety- 
five per cent. They, however, deteriorate rapidly, to 
eighty per cent, the second year, to sixty per cent, the 
third, and the fourth to twenty per cent. 

Corn varies greatly in germinating force, the flint 
varieties being the most vital, the dent sorts, the gourd 
seed sorts and the sugar varieties following in the order 
named. Hard, flinty corn, grown under good condi- 
tions, and well cured, should germinate the first year to 
the extent of ninety per cent., the second year to eighty 
per cent., and the third year to fifty per cent. Sugar 
corns, on the other hand, are very delicate, their vitality 
being affected by the conditions under which they are 
matured, husked, cured and packed, and, even after 
seeming hard and dry, they often become damp if kept 
in bulk or in bags piled up. So delicate are sugar corns 
that they should never be continuously kept in bags or 
sacks till the January following the harvest, and often 
not that early. 

There are unauthenticated records of mummy corn 
froni South America having germinated, but the writer 
doubts the accuracy of the statements. He has an ear 
of mummy corn from Peru, said to be seven hundred 
years old, but it is entirely dead, having been subjected, 
as all other mummy corn has been, to the heating effects 
of hot pitch and similar mixtures used in embalming. 
The claira that corn of vital force has been found in the 
Egyptian tombs is positively false, as small grain was 
found. Maize was entirely unknown on the Eastern con- 
tinents before the discovery of America. Credulous tour- 
ists visiting the Nile regions can always be accommodated, 
4 



50 MAEKET GAKDENING. 

by obliging native g^^ides, with maize said bo be from the 
tombs, but it is of recent growth. 

In making comparisons of the vitality of vegetable 
seeds, it must always be borne in mind that English, 
French and German seeds are never as vital as American, 
consequent upon the excessive humidity of the seed- 
growing, regions abroad and. the injurious effects of a sea 
voyage. The European crops are never ripened in the 
field as thoroughly as the American, and before and after 
threshing are never in as bone-dry condition as crops 
ripened under semi-tropical heat ; consequently Eu- 
ropean seeds do hot sprout as quickly, do not develop 
the same large percentage of vitality, and do not hold 
what they have so well as seeds of American growth. 
A low percentage of vitality, either of European or 
American seeds, does not necessarily indicate age, but, 
frequently, that the seed was matured under unfavorable 
circumstances, conditions beyond the power of the seed 
grower to avoid. No seed grower could undertake to 
guarantee the vitality of the seed sold by him, for he 
cannot control the conditions of the sowing as respects 
nature of soil, preparation of seed bed, previous condi- 
tion, present manuring, time and manner of seeding, 
immunity from fleas and larvae at time of sprouting, 
conditions of moisture and temperature. The seedsman 
who guaranteed his seed would either be a fool or a 
knave. 

While vitality is of much importance, it is less so 
than purity. An apparent want of vitality is often 
wholly due to some unfavorable condition, as one planter 
frequently succeeds while another fails with the seed 
out of the same bag. Again, a low vitality of a newly 
harvested seed, the result of climatic conditions, is a 
matter beyond human control, and, occasionally, seed of 
such defective vitality has to be accepted by both seed 
grower, merchant and planter. Not so with impurity ; 



TRAN"SPLANTING. 51 

for if seed prove iinvital a new purchase can be made, 
and a new planting follow within a few days; but im- 
pure seed is more deceptire, as its very vigor secures the 
crop, attention and labor to be subsequently found 
wasted. Of the two evils, unvital seed or impure seed, 
the first, by all odds, is the least. 



CHAPTER YIII. 

Transplaktin^g. 

Many seeds of garden vegetables, and of nearly all 
garden flowers, are first sown in beds, to be afterwards 
transplanted to permanent positions, with the object, 

First : — That by their concentration more thorough 
attention can be given them as respects preparation of 
seed bed. 

Second : — Because the space in which they ulti- 
mately stand may be occupied by an immature crop. 

Third : — That delicate plants might be lost if sown 
in permanent positions and subjected to the attacks of 
insects, or overgrown by weeds. 

Fourth : — To save labor, as one thousand small 
plants in a bed can be cared for at one-tenth the cost of 
time and money as the same number in open ground. 

Fifth : — To induce productiveness, as plants set out 
from beds to the open ground are checked in their vigor 
of leaf growth and a clearly indicated disposition devel- 
oped, in the direction of blooming and early maturity. 
The beds in which delicate, slow growing vegetable 
plants are grown may be hotbeds, intermediate beds, 
cold frames or out door border beds, but from all or any 
of them the plants must be moved with equal care, for 
transplanting is an operation so delicate as not only to 



53 MARKET GARDENING. 

determine whether a crop be secured or not, but to grade 
the productiveness and time of maturity. Beets, car- 
rots, parsnips, radish, turnip and all other fleshy tap- 
rooted plants are best grown on permanent positions, 
as they do not transplant well, but many fibrous-rooted 
plants, as cabbage, tomato, egg plant, pepper, lettuce, 
are most safely started in beds, and really do best after 
transplanting, as they then are afterward more deeply set 
in the soil and start off upon fresh tilled land as well as 
while growing in the bed, giving the gardener ample 
time to make all desirable arrangements for transplant- 
ing, while, on the other hand, if he sowed the seed in 
permanent position at the same early date he might fail 
to secure good j^lants. 

The process of transplantation should be performed 
.on soils properly tilled; that is, thoroughly plowed or 
dug,, harrowed or raked, and marked off in rows at 
proper intervals for hand hoeing, or wider for horse cul- 
tivation. While transplantation by thoroughly experi- 
enced persons can sometimes be done under unfavorable 
conditions of soil, it is, as a rule, only safely undertaken 
when the soil is damp or wet, when the rain is falling, 
or the air charged with moisture, otherwise the plants 
may succumb under hot sun or drying winds. 

In setting the plants in the row, space should always 
be allowed between them greater than the extreme diam- 
eter of the fully developed plant. For instance, if a 
certain variety of cabbage will produce a head and out- 
side leaves of a space of fifteen inches, then that variety 
of plant should be set at eighteen inches ; or if one vari- 
ety of lettuce plant grows twelve inches in diameter and 
another variety only five inches, they should be set 
accordingly. 

In taking plants from seed beds they should not be 
pulled up, to the destruction of the rootlets, but lifted 
with a trowel or similar tool, and when out of the ground 



TRANSPLANTING. 53 

should be protected from sun or air, as either influence 
will dry up those tender fibers upon which depend its 
earlier or later connection with the soil. The coarse 
roots may be looked upon as so many anchors ; they 
do not sustain the life of the plant. The plants dug 
from the seed beds and properly protected, the next 
operation is to set them, which may be done with a 
dibble or trowel. The dibble is a long, pointed, cone- 
shaped tool, which, from its form and rotary motion 
when used, generally smooths the sides of the hole, both 
bad features, while a trowel is a digging implement, 
leaving the soil mellow. 

The plants should be set deeper than they origin- 
ally stood, but as a rule, not deeper than the points of 
attachment of the lower leaves. None of the root fibers 
should point upward, be all turned downward, and the 
more widely spread the better. The soil should be 
pressed down with the hand or foot after the plant is 
set, that the earth and rootlets may be brought into 
intimate contact, otherwise the time required to bring 
about this contact is so much lost time. It is a good 
practice to hoe a transplanted crop just as soon as the 
plants recover from the setting, as hoeing mellows the 
soil and has a vitalizing effect. 

Mulching. — In small gardens the practice of mulch- 
ing after transplanting is often pursued with marked 
advantage. This operation is the covering of the soil 
around freshly set plants, vines, shrubs and trees, with 
three to four inches in depth of litter of any kind, long 
manure, dry hay, dried leaves, green grass from the 
lawn, green weeds from the field or garden, any of them 
preventing, during dry weather, excessive evaporation 
from the soil. 

Crops well mulched are comparatively free from 
weeds, and such as do push themselves through it can 
easily be pulled up, while the moist, mellow condition 



54 MARKET GARDENING. 

of the soil under a mulcli renders ordinary cultivation 
unnecessary. Every cultivator not familiar wiili the 
merits of mulching should make some experiments, the 
material always being cheap, indeed, often in the way, 
and presenting a problem as to its disposition. 



CHAPTER IX. 

StrccESSioJsr, or the Rotation op Crops. 

The gardener, whether an expert or amateur, must, 
like a general in the field, have a plan of operations 
upon which to conduct the campaign of the summer, 
and, while the expert may not commit his plan to paper, 
the amateur certainly should, otlierwise he will more 
than double the number of the errors whicli he is sure 
to commit, plan he ever so well. 

Gardening, it is true, is often successfully pursued 
by seemingly ignorant men, and they truly may be 
ignorant of literature and polite accomplishments, but 
they are, nevertheless, specialists, and if successful oper- 
ators in the advanced system of gardening, may prove 
themselves to have acquired a technical knowledge which 
is as much a profession as any other occupation whicli 
develops looked for results. 

The amateur has everything to learn, and must 
commit his plans to paper, or he will be certain to run 
everything into disorder, and, before the season is well 
started be disposed to give up in despair of ever getting 
things into order by strawberry time. With a clear, 
systematically managed garden, his is the envy of all 
neighbors, while with a weedy and clearly unprofitable 
one he sets such a bad example that it would have been 
better he had not attempted anything. The gardener 



EOTATIOJSr OF CKOPS. 55 

must do a little engineering, he must have a plan of his 
garden drawn to a scale, say one-third of an inch to the 
foot, and on three distinct sheets lay out the plans for 
spring, summer and autumn. As to the nature of these 
plans, the reader may get some hints from observation 
of the practice of good market gardeners in his vicinity 
or elsewhere. Now, presupposing that the spring plant- 
ing of the private gardener comprises every thing season- 
able, the question naturally arises what shall he sow as 
a succession to his spring planting ; for be it clearly un- 
derstood, it is only by keeping up in the garden a never 
ceasing course of sowing of seed, gathering of matured 
crops, and re-sowing on the same ground, without any 
waste of time, that the garden can be practically made 
to pay its cost in dollars and cents. With a less intense 
system of administration and culture it may pay well, 
in the pleasure derived from the contemplation of rural 
subjects and in increased health consequent upon inter- 
esting and moderate outdoor labor, but unless the course 
of rotation is well thought out and practically put into 
effect each fruit or vegetable will cost double its price 
in the stores. Of course the climatic location has every- 
thing to do with the policy adopted, as in the Gulf 
States the practice is quite distinct from that of the 
Carolinas, and in the Carolinas equally distinct from 
that of the corn and wheat growing districts of the East 
and West. In fact, in each section of each State dis- 
tinct policies are pursued as to periods of sowing, and as 
to choice of varieties. 

As an aid to the amateur in the Middle and West- 
ern States we will say that peas may be followed by cab- 
bage for early autumn use, also by beans, tomato and 
celery plants. Onions by kale, turnip and winter rad- 
ishes. Spring spinach by beans and tomatoes. Spring 
radishes by cabbage, for early autumn use. Lettuce by 
beans and tomatoes. ' Beans by kale, turnip, winter rad- 



56 MAEKET GAKDEJSriKG. 

ishes, autumn lettuce and celery. Early carrots by 
autumn spinach, kale, turnips, winter radishes. Sum- 
mer squash by kale, turnip, winter radishes. Cucumber 
by autumn spinach, turnip and winter radishes. Early 
beets by spinach, kale, turnips and winter radishes. 
Early sugar corn by a second crop of the same kind or 
by autumn spinach, beans, tomatoes, celery. 

There are some late maturing varieties of garden 
plants which seldom afford the cultivator an opportunity 
to sow anything else as a succession ; among these are 
late sugar corns, parsley, parsnip, leek, pumpkin, mel- 
ons, winter squarsh, tomatoes, okra and peppers. 

Thinniis^g Out. 

It takes a determined conviction of necessity to thin 
out young plants in the vegetable or flower garden, that 
they may have full space to properly extend their growth. 
Among vegetables of large leaf development, as cabbage, 
lettuce, spinach and parsley, the space necessary for 
growth without crowding, may be found by marking 
round the plant a circle on the ground equal to the 
diameter of a fully developed specimen, and those plants 
with large roots, such as beets, radish and turnip, must 
be allowed room in proportion to their usual size. 

Do not hesitate to thin out, no matter how sturdy 
and attractive the plants may be, for the jjlant which 
crowds another is simply a weed. This thinning should 
be done before the plants be drawn or elongated in their 
stems or leaves, or they will ever afterward show the 
injurious effects of crowding. It may be done by cut- 
ting out with a hoe or knife of those plants which are 
not needed elsewhere, or, if considered worth transplant- 
ing, they should be carefully dug up, that the finer roots 
be preserved. No vegetable or flower will properly 
develop if crowded ; certainly one symmetrical plant is 
worth a dozen sickly ones, not only for market, but 
in effect. 



CHAPTEE X. 

Garden" Insects. 

Owing to the depredations of sparrows, blackbirds, 
chickens, and other feathery thieves, moles and mice 
underground, squirrels, woodchucks, cats and dogs 
aboYe ground, the painstaking gardener will find many of 
his labors frustrated by an innumerable host of enemies 
coming and going throughout the season. Among these 
may be included slugs, grubs, cutworms, caterpillars, 
sap suckers, plant lice, the larva of day butterflies and 
night moths in various stages of transformation. Some 
seasons they all appear to be present and combine in an 
attack to defeat every operation of the gardener. At 
other times they most graciously absent themselves ; 
but the gardener is never without a sufficient number to 
keep him well on the defensive. 

Insecticides — The subject of insecticides and traps 
is one to which is now given much attention, and 
country stores in every district are all well supplied 
with preparations and apparatus without number, all 
offered as the best, however poor. 

An unscientific description of a few of the common 
destructive insects in the garden, with suggested reme- 
dies for destroying them, may not be out of place. 
Insect preventives may be said to be of two forms of 
application : Steeps, in which the seed, before sowing, is 
soaked, and dressings, with which the plants are covered. 
These may again be divided into two classes : Eepellants, 
as gasoline, tar, kerosene, sulphur powder, which act by 
overcoming the natural odor of plants attractive to cer- 

57 



58 MAKKET GARDENING. 

tain insects, and poisons, generally arsenical compounds, 
applied Avith the direct intent of killing the insect eating 
the foliage. 

In nothing is the saying that "An ounce of preven- 
tion is worth a pound of cure," more exemplified than 
in the advantage derived from destroying flying insects 
before they deposit their eggs. Every one living in the 
country is familiar with the habit of night moths and 
bugs to fly into lamps or other lights, and that the incli- 
nation has been used as a means of inviting them to 
destruction by night fires on the borders of the garden, 
or by placing in the midst of the garden a large tub of 
water, over the center of which is placed a square lantern 
against which the insects fly violently and are precipi- 
tated into the water. 

Asparagus Beetle. — The asparagus beetle, often 
called the asparagus fly, is an oblong, hard-bodied, quick 
motioned insect, about one-third of an inch in length, 
its head black, its thorax tawny red, and wing-covers 
blue-black, ornamented with six small yellow spots, 
appearing in large numbers during the season of aspara- 
gus cutting; the soft larvae, or slugs, are most ravenous 
destroyers of the cuticle or outer bark of stems, twigs 
and leaves of the asparagus plant, attacking it from the 
first peeping sprout in early spring till the plant has 
reached its full development. These insects, maturing 
early, develop a new brood in August. Nothing can be 
done to destroy the asparagus beetle upon the market- 
able shoots, as mineral poisons would be destructive to 
human life, and offensive applications would destroy 
the value of the crop. 

On beds not old enough for cutting, and on beds 
past prime condition, mineral poisons may be used, and 
none have been found better than Paris green, mixed 
with forty parts of flour. Sometimes the beetles appear 
in such numbers and are so voracious that asparagus 



GAEDEif INSECTS. 50 

shoots for market require to be cut when Just peeping 
through the ground, otherwise in a day nothing would 
remain to be collected. 

Asparagus beds past the marketable condition of 
growth can be dressed advantageously with a solution of 
a tablespoonfu] of Paris green in four gallons of water, 
which will be generally found to kill the slugs. Some- 
times effective results ensue by the application of freshly 
slaked lime while the dew is on them, for the least par- 
ticle of lime touching the skin of a slug is certain to 
kill it. 

White Grub. — The white grub is the larvae of the 
familiar June bug, or, more correctly. May beetle, which, 
in the early spring months, enters dwellings in the even- 
ing, swarming about the lights, buzzing loudly and vio- 
lently, knocking themselves against the walls and ceil- 
ings. The perfect insect feeds upon the foliage of trees, 
and is more or less destructive. The eggs are deposited 
in the earth, and hatch in about a month. The grubs 
remain in the ground, doing little injury till the second 
summer, when they attack the roots of plants. They 
remain as grubs in the earth for nearly three years, by 
which time they reach a length of two inches, and often 
appear in such great numbers as to do immense damage. 
The body of the grub is soft and of a dirty white, and 
its head is of red and brown, and its habit, like the cut 
worm, is to coil into a ball when disturbed. Like other 
grubs, they are difficult to poison, the best plan being 
to endeavor to destroy the beetles in early spring. This 
worm is eaten by skunks, coons, moles and birds. Dogs 
can be trained to eat it, and when so trained will follow 
a plow all day long. 

Wire Worm. — The wire worm is a long, yellow, 
slender-bodied grub, with exceedingly hard and tough 
skin. These worms destroy the seed and young plants 
of squash, pumpkin, melon, and often potatoes. They 



60 MARKET GARDENING. 

are the grubs of snap-beetles, brown-black insects which, 
when laid over on their backs, have the singular power 
of snapping and sin-inging violently to their feet. The 
writer has frequently seen grains of corn a week after 
planting, bored out to a shell, and containing as many 
as a dozen worms ravenously finishing tbe remainder of 
the grain. 

Cut Worm. — Cut worms are the larvse of various 
species of night moths which deposit their eggs late in 
the summer. When hatched, the worms enter the 
ground and remain in a torpid state all winter. In the 
spring they appear as naked, greasy, smooth caterpillars, 
ravenously attacking the seed, roots and stems of almost 
any young vegetable, and when disturbed, coiling 
quickly into a ball. The best method of killing them 
is to catch them by digging. They are sometimes 
destroyed by Paris green sprinkled on small bunches of 
freshly cut grass laid upon the surface of the soil where 
the worms are known to be. White hellebore has been 
found effective in the destruction of this pest. 

Colorado Potato Beetle. — The Colorado potato 
beetle is, perhaps, one of the best recognized of insect 
pests, being large in size, and found in every locality. 
Its favorite foods are the leaves of the potato, tomato 
and egg plant. But it is readily destroyed with Paris 
green. 

Squash Beetle. — The striped squash beetle, prey- 
ing upon cucumbers and melons, is an insect a little 
over a quarter of an inch long, with a black and yellow 
jacket bearing three parallel black bands. The full 
grown beetle appears in the middle of spring, just in 
time to catch the plants as they sprout, eating the young 
leaves as they develop, so that the gardener almost gives 
up in despair of ever securing plants with too well devel- 
oped leaves, at which stage they are usually considered 
proof against the beetles ; but this is not always the case. 



GABDElf INSECTS. 61 

for in some seasons plants of squash, cucumber, melons, 
pumpkin, having six or seven leaves large as a man's 
hand, are completely eaten off in a single day. Appli- 
cations of Paris green, land plaster, slaked lime, must 
all be so applied as to reach the under side of the leaf as 
well as the top. 

In gardens an effective way to keep off the mature 
flying beetles is to cover the seed hills at once, after 
planting, with square or circular frames, covered with 
mosquito netting, that the young plants may be protected 
from the beetles. The gardener may conclude he has 
conquered, but not so always, for the eggs of the same 
beetle, deposited in the earth, now hatched by the heat 
of the sun, develop larvse, a little white worm, which, 
commencing at the vines under ground, pierce the stems 
through and through, to their utter destruction, and to 
the gardener's dismay. We recommend Hammond's 
slug shot to destroy the first brood of beetles which ap- 
pears. This done, no larvae will follow. 

On Eeedland Farm the Landreths, cultivating large 
breadths of watermelons and canteloupes, always have 
to replant, more or less, on account of the ravages of 
this troublesome insect, sometimes replanting five or six 
times, using an aggregate of nine or ten pounds of the 
seed to the acre before obtaining a complete growth, a 
very expensive process, increased cost of labor, of seed, 
and the risk of a delayed crop. On large areas the best 
remedy against this pest is slug shot, or Paris green, 
mixed with forty parts of land plaster or flour, and ap- 
plied as often as it is washed off. Experiments made 
at Bloomsdale Farm have conclusively shown that 
various vine plants have different degrees of resistance 
to the noxious effects of Paris green, squashes being the 
strongest, pumpkins next, then cucumber, water melons 
and canteloupes least of all. 

As the French wine growers kill the phylloxera 
insect feeding on the roots of the grape by the poisonous 



62 MARKET GARDENING. 

fumes of carbon bi-snlphide injected into tlie earth, why 
should not this same application destroy the white grub, 
wire and cut worm, squash beetle, and others ? A spoon- 
ful of the liquid, injected by a syringe about the roots of 
the j)lants to be protected, might work wonders. 

The Harlequin Cabbage Bug. — The harlequin 
cabbage bug is a very demon among garden pests, the 
perfect insect one-half inch long, somewhat resembling 
in shape a terrapin, having a hard shell brilliantly spot- 
ted. It is a sap sucker, puncturing the stalks and leayes 
of cabbage and other plants of the cabbage family, suck- 
ing out the sap and poisoning the entire plant. Turkeys 
and chickens decline to eat them, poison will not kill 
them, as they do not eat solid matter; they must be 
picked off by hand. This Mexican insect has repeatedly 
presented itself to the observation of the writer in such 
innumerable numbers as to obtain for itself a record of 
first place among destructive bugs. It is particularly 
fond of cabbage and turnip, attacking both in autumn 
and spring, and is especially destructive on those plants 
when shooting to seed. His firm has lost, on several 
occasions, sixty to seventy acres of cabbage, and still 
more of ruta bagas, even after weeks of labor and efforts 
to remove the bugs by hand picking ; all being insuffi- 
cient to check their numbers, and no poisonous applica- 
tion being effectual in checking their voracity. The 
most reliable method of meeting the ravages of this bug 
is to destroy the first brood at any cost, even of the crop 
itself. 

Cabbage Worm. — The cabbage worm is a green 
caterpillar, feeding on nearly all broad-leaved vegetables, 
especially cabbage, cauliflower and lettuce. It is the 
larvae of a white butterfly of European origin ; Paris 
green will poison these caterpillars, but, except in the 
very early stages of cabbage growth, it is unsafe to apply 
so poisonous an article to a plant which might enfold 



GAEDEN INSECTS. 63 

the poisonous compound within its leaves and kill those 
who afterwards ate the plant. Pyrethrum has been 
found excellent as a destroyer, but probably Hammond's 
slug shot is as effective. Sometimes good results follow 
the application of white hellebore mixed with land plas- 
ter, four parts to one. In other cases a solution of one 
quart of powdered alum to twelve quarts of boiling 
water is effective. Sometimes good effects result from 
an application of a tablespoonful of pyrethrum mixed in 
two gallons of water, and applied forcibly with a spray 
syringe. The writer's experience with the cabbage worm 
dates from the period of its southern raid from Canada, 
where it was first established as an emigrant from 
Europe. He has had annoyance from it in variable 
degrees every year, but never to that serious extent as 
reported from localities where it has occasionally de- 
stroyed entire crops of cabbage. 

Cabbage Louse. — The Downy cabbage louse is a 
mealy, soft-bodied insect, sometimes appearing in thou- 
sands, swarming like bees upon the leaves of young cab- 
bage, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower. It can be driven 
off by application of Hammond's slug shot. Personal 
experience should always enable one to express opinions 
on a subject, and the writer, having had years of com- 
bat with this plant louse, looks upon it as a pest to be 
dreaded, difficult to kill, and destructive in its work. 
He has seen, upon the seed farm of his firm, as much 
as one hundred and fifty acres of otherwise healthy tur- 
nip plants, and one hundred acres of cabbage in the 
seed producing condition, entirely destroyed within 
three weeks. It is especially fond of the tender seed 
stems of the ruta baga, and in nearly all seed-growing 
districts whei-e ruta baga seed-growing has been pursued 
twenty years, the cultivation has ceased entirely on ac- 
count of the great increase of this insect. On young tur- 
nips the louse can be destroyed by dusting with Paris 



64 MARKET GARDENING. 

green, hellebore and slug shot, but as the insect enters 
the most intricate folds of the leaves of cabbage, cauli- 
flower and Brussels sprouts, the poisonous applications 
cannot be used. An effective remedy, on small garden 
plots, is kerosene emulsion, made as follows : One part 
sour milk, two parts kerosene, thoroughly mixed by 
rapid agitation till the combination forms a creamy 
liquid. To this add fourteen parts water, and apply by 
an injector, or dash over the vines with a broom • or 
the emulsion may be made with : One quart soft soap, 
one quart kerosene, two quarts water mixed by forcible 
agitation, and diluted with sixteen quarts of water 
applied forcibly with a syringe. 

Onion Fly. — The grub of this insect attacks the 
bulbs of onions, the tops of which grow yellow and soon 
die. There is no stopping its ravages, but prompt action 
should be taken to destroy the larvae, as a preventive 
against a like attack the succeeding year. All sickly 
onions should be removed and burned, and from four to 
eight bushels of salt applied to the acre. 

Turnip Fly. — The turnip fly, or flea beetle, is a 
jumping insect about one-twentieth of an inch in diam- 
eter, feeding on lettuce, radish, turnip and cabbage, as 
soon as they break through the ground, often destroying 
an entire crop, acres in extent, before the planter 
knows the seed has sprouted. Equal parts of wood ashes 
and land plaster dusted very thoroughly on the young 
plants will generally drive them off. An application of 
some efficiency is, one part of Paris green, mixed with 
forty or fifty parts of land plaster or flour. Some of the 
State legislatures have very admirably passed laws mak- 
ing it obligatory on farmers to destroy the Canada this- 
tle, and other weeds dangerous to the interests of agri- 
culture. No less caution should be observed with 
respect to certain insects, as, for instance, the potato 
beetle, multiplying by hundreds of thousands on the 



DISEASES OF GARDEN VEGETABLES. 65 

land of a slovenly farmer, infests the entire district next 
year, no matter how diligently other farmers apply 
themselves to its eradication. 

Insects attacking garden plants may, in a slight 
degree, compensate for their injuries, by the agreeahle 
study they afford to one of an investigating turn of 
mind. The eggs can be gathered and hatched under 
glass, or, better, under wire gauze, and the larvae of 
many species observed passing through the various 
transformations to the fully developed winged insect. 
Flying insects can be caught in a scoop net placed on 
the end of a pole, and, when caught, can be killed by suf- 
focation by the fumes of ammonia, or, more promptly, 
by chloroform or ether. Beetles can be killed by fumes 
of cyanide of potassium in a corked bottle, but this is 
recommended cautiously, as its fumes are a deadly poison. 



CHAPTER XL 

Diseases of Gaedejs" Vegetables. 

However much insect depredations may be dreaded 
by the gardener, he, at least, has some recourse against 
the grubs, worms, snails, caterpillars and bugs, by de- 
stroying them after some trouble, or by holding them in 
check by poisonous applications, so as finally to secure a 
crop. Not so, however, with fungous growths, which, 
intimately connected with the structure and circulation 
of the host plant, cannot always be destroyed by solu- 
tions poisonous to vegetable growth, for, with the fun- 
gus, the supporting plant may suffer equally with the 
paraisite. 

The Legislature of the State of New York has set a 
good example by the passage of a law authorizing the 
5 



66 MAEKET GARDENING. 

officers of the State Agricultural Society to enter upon 
farm lands of citizens of that State, where new or dan- 
gerous parasitic plants are found upon vines, or other 
plants, and to destroy the crops by fire, the State assum- 
ing the loss to the farmers. 

The reader of this little volume may conclude that 
the author has adopted a singular method of promoting 
amateur gardening, by presenting to the beginner all 
the evils which can possibly occur to crush the ardor 
and forestall the labors of the young gardener. Not sat- 
isfied with dwelling on insect pests infesting gardens, he 
must here present a dissertation on diseases. 

The observing man already knows that all vegetable 
life, like the animal, is subject to disease and decay. 
He has seen strong forest trees with lifeless branches, 
and fruit trees, as the peach and pear, cease to be pro- 
ductive. Garden vegetables of weaker development can- 
not be expected to be exempt, and a very brief survey of 
the prevalent diseases of a few varieties of field and gar- 
den plants may be instructive, and lead to such subse- 
quent critical observation as may be of profit ; as, for 
many of the diseases of vegetables, there are treatments 
which may be termed preventive, palliative or curative, 
and their proper use may, in time, reduce what is now a 
serious loss in garden products. 

Many of the diseases are the result of unclean soil, 
which, like an unclean house, is a hotbed of infection ; 
some are of a foreign origin, brought to this country 
with seeds and plants, and, as in the case of certain 
people, flourishing with double vigor under new condi- 
tions of life. Other diseases, again, of American origin, 
are carried, like certain insects, from one region to 
another by our transportation lines ; as, for instance, 
the Colorado potato beetle, which has flourished for 
hundreds of years in Colorado and on the plains of Ari- 
zona, and southward into Mexico, but it never escaped 



DISEASES OF GARDEN" VEGETABLES. 67 

from its natural habitat till our cultivated frontier 
reached its home, and then it spread East and North hy 
easy stages on the potato fields. 

Potato-Vine Fungus — The potato is subject to 
the attacks of several parasitic fungi, two or more of 
which attack clover and lettuce, appearing as patches of 
white film, Avliich, in a few weeks, spread over the entire 
plant, extract the juice and reduce the vigor of the plant 
so that growth of tubers ceases. There is no remedy for 
this disease, and to prevent its spread exceedingly great 
caution has to be observed in burning all tiie stems of 
the infected crop. To dress the land with lime and to 
cease to raise potatoes on the same ground for two years 
is the best system to pursue. A second fungus growth 
to which the potato is subject also attacks tomato and egg 
plants, on each of which it is equally injurious. It ap- 
pears about midsummer, and flourishes most vigorously 
during close humid weather. It is first seen as a 
fine white bloom, accompanied by darker spots on the 
leaves. It is to be found mainly beneath the leaves, 
and if the temperature continues moist it rapidly dis- 
tributes itself over the entire plant, the darker spots, 
increasing in number and size, indicating the presence 
of mycelium within the tissues soon ready to develop a 
white material on the surface. An offensive odor is an 
accompaniment of this disease. The fungus, under con- 
ditions favorable to its growth, develops rapidly, some- 
times appearing and destroying a crop in two days, but 
always the germs of disease have been present before- 
hand, possibly for weeks. The stems of the entire crop 
should be burned, the land should be limed, and any 
succeeding crop planted with seed from a district not 
infected with the fungus, and the crop planted wide 
apart between rows to admit of a thorough circulation 
of air. 

Cabbage Fungus — Club-root in cabbage is a 
name applied to the outward results which appear on 



68 MAKKET GARDENING. 

cabbage, turnips, mangels, carrots, as a distortion- and 
enlargement, in spindle form, of the main root stem and 
rootlets, occasionally to ten times the normal size of the 
roots. This ugly growth is due to the attack of a fungus 
which usually fastens itself upon the plant at an early 
stage, and when once present remains permanently. 
The spores seem to form a connecting link between the 
vegetable and the animal kingdom, for though entirely 
YCgetable, they have tail-like appendages which, by 
vibration, cause the spores to move over wet surfaces in 
quite a life-like manner. Cabbage Avith club-root — and 
no one can mistake the disease — should at once be burned, 
and no attempt made upon that land to grow cabbage 
for at least a year. 

Pea Fungus. — A fungus attacking peas, espe- 
cially late varieties, or early ones sown late, and known 
as pea mildew, is developed by decaying material of weeds 
or rubbish, and is forwarded, especially, under conditions 
of moisture and heat. When a crop is once attacked 
there is little hope of arresting its ravages, and the best 
course is to pull up the plants and use the ground for 
something else. 

The Bordeaux Mixture, used to destroy fungus 
growths, as scab and mildew on grapes, apples, pears, 
and other fruits of hard wooded plants, is valuable also 
in the treatment of garden vegetables and flowers suffer- 
ing from fungus. To make the mixture, take four 
pounds fresh unslaked lime, six pounds copjDer sulphate 
powdered, forty- five gallons of water, or in same pro- 
portion ; slack the lime, making a creamy mixture. Pour 
into a barrel, straining it through a sack. Fill up with 
water and stir. The mixture will cost about one cent 
per gallon. 

The mixture must be applied in the form of fine 
spray, applied with force by an effective pump or syringe. 
For fruits it will be safe to make four sprayings. 



HEREDITY IN PLANTS. G9 

\ 

1st. Just as the flowers are opening. 2d. Ten days later, 
and so on at intervals of ten days. Sometimes six or 
seyen sprayings are beneficial. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Heredity in Plants. 

Breeders of horses, horned cattle, sheep and swine, 
acknowledge that merit or demerit is inherited, and it is 
the same with plants ; they can be improved by selection 
and cross breeding, as the sexes are almost as distinctly 
developed in vegetables and flowers as in animals, and, 
with a few exceptions, present themselves to our notice 
in three forms, viz. : 

Sexes in Plants — First — Bi-sexual, in which both 
sexes are present as part of the flower, as seen in the 
fully developed pistil and stamens of the apple and pear, 
the cabbage and radish. 

Second — Monoecious, in which the sexes are found 
in distinct flowers produced by the same plant, as in 
corn, melon, cucumber, squash. 

Third — Dioecious, in which the sexes are borne on 
distinct plants, as asparagus and spinach. 

Remote Parents of Cultivated Varieties. — The 
cabbage grower of to-day would scarcely recognize, in 
the coarse wild cabbage of the seashore of Denmark, the 
parent of our improved varieties ; nor the celery lover 
the bitter plant, as found in its native habitats; nor 
the epicure in watermelons the bitter, indigenous melons 
found covering whole districts in Africa. The present 
development in plants is the result of heredity in selected 
specimens. The original individuals of every garden 
vegetable and every garden flower were caught, tamed 



70 MAKKET GAKDENIKG. 

and improved througli ciTltiyation and selection, cover- 
ing longer or shorter periods of time. The same work 
of selection and imjDrovement of good qualities in vege- 
tables is yet going on, and more earnestly than ever 
before. The seed grower of to-day is doing the work, 
the only fear is he is going too fast, introducing many 
variations of little merit, rather than devoting himself 
to the selection and preparation of varieties of suitable 
quality. 

Selection of Varieties. — Were it not for hered- 
ity the seed growers' labors would be in vain, but, fortu- 
nately, the man who finds a good thing in the green- 
house, flower garden, vegetable garden, or in the field, 
can seize upon it, and, by the aid of heredity, fix, after 
a time, its valuable qualities for the benefit of all. But 
it may be well to say he meets with many instances of 
curious reversion to original types. 

Change of Seed. — It is quite possible to grow the 
same crop on the same land for successive years, but it 
is a ruinous policy. We own a plantation in Virginia, 
upon a field of which, it is said, corn was grown succes- 
sively and uninterruptedly for ninety years, but the pro- 
duct had fallen to ten bushels per acre. The avoid- 
ance of such a course of seeding is known as the system 
of rotation of crops, that is, such an alternation of seeding 
as to complete define a cycle of cropping in a term of 
years. Now, no less important is a rotation in the seed 
itself. The vegetable gardener generally purchases his 
seeds from various sources, but the grain farmer some- 
times blindly adheres to his own stock of wheat, rye, 
oats, till it has lost its original character, and run down 
in productiveness for want of healthy stamina. 

Much is gained, then, by a change of seed of any 
family of plants, by seed grown on a different soil ; and 
we urge our readers to make trial every year of a limited 
quantity, be it only a few papers, or pounds, of old or 



HEREDITY IN PLANTS. 71 

new varieties from localities different from their own in 
soil and climatic conditions. Many fungus growths in 
cultivated plants are superinduced by a weak physical 
development, so that everything points to the advantage 
of a change of stock if a cultivator wants to make either 
a reputation in the community for good crops or a profit 
on his product. 

The gardener cannot change the climate of a local- 
ity, but he can transport plants from one end of the 
earth to the other and, subjecting them to new condi- 
tions of climate and soil, thus bringing about a variability 
which, , by selection and continued culture, can be per- 
petuated, the new quality becoming hereditary. This 
process of selection has given us our best types of vege- 
tables and flowers. 

Man can do little to cause variability, but he can 
seize upon good forms when they do appear, and, by 
annual selection in fixed lines, secure important results. 
No doubt the edible plants of the older forms have been 
handed down from days of barbarism, when man was 
forced, at times, by hunger to eat almost anything he 
could swallow, but their qualities have been improved. 

At this day we can hardly believe, that the wild 
species of carrot, parsnip and cabbage were the progeni- 
tors of our cultivated varieties. Several years ago the 
wild carrot of the fields was experimented with at Blooms- 
dale Farm, and, after seven years of high culture and' 
careful selection, it had developed a root quite soft, Juicy 
and palatable. The writer has grown quite good-sized 
and fairly edible tubers^ after five years of cultivation, 
from the wild potato of Mexico. 

The work of selection and the results of heredity is 
in no plant so clearly shown as in the cabbage, every 
one of the two hundred, or more, forms being developed 
from one original, — the wild plant of the sea coast of 
western Europe, now developed into plants of many dif- 



72 MARKET GARDE]SriNG. 

fereut characters, as kale, when the terminal and lateral 
leaf buds are active and open ; as Brussels sprouts, when 
each leaf bud forms a head ; as cabbage, when the ter- 
minal leaf bud alone is active, forming one head ; as 
cauliflower, when the terminal flower bud is checked, 
producing a mass of succulent, edible, and, to a large 
extent, abortive flowers. 

The occasional appearance of the so-called pod corn, 
otherwise primitive corn, developing among cultivated 
species, may be the result of heredity, as it is quite pos- 
sible the original maize was of this character, every 
grain being covered by a distinct husk. But it is in the 
"melon family" that the greatest variations occur; pos- 
sibly there are four thousand varieties known, compris- 
ing great variability in size, form and color of vine, 
and color, shape and size of fruit and form of seed, one 
variety being two thousan J times larger than another. 
Nearly all of this family will interbreed ; the cantaloupe 
and cucumber have been hybridized on Bloomsdale 
Farm and grown there for several years as an interest- 
freak of nature. 

While heredity is a well marked principle in vege- 
table life, there is a constant tendency to depart from 
established forms, sometimes for the better, of tener for 
the worse, for reversion is generally downward in the 
scale of excellence. The reversion may be in the form 
of a wild sport, or a distinct reproduction from a late or 
a very remote ancestor. 

Every exj)erienced seed grower knows that the 
purest crops will sometimes develop the wildest sports, for 
instance, a crop of cabbage of apparently absolute purity 
may produce a few plants like collards, the result alone 
of reversion. The seed grower is powerless to prevent 
this natural physiological freak, and the gardener who 
knows anything of seed production and vegetable varia- 
bility deals more rationally with the seedsman than he 



SAVING SEED. 73 

wlio knows nothing of such matters, but thinks nature 
should produce plants all as much alike as nickels from 
the mint. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Saving Seed. 

Gardening at the present day is quite distinct from 
that of the past, for, while it has been, from ancient 
times, termed an art, it may now, in its advanced condi- 
tion, be termed an art supported, explained and digni- 
fied by nearly every science, all being called upon to 
account for the natural phenomena of plant germination, 
vegetation and maturity. 

Though very few market gardeners are scientific 
men, still, the progressive one nowadays gives consider- 
able thought to matters truly scientific. For instance, 
the chemical results affecting plant development through 
the application of salts, of potash, soda, and other chem- 
ical substances used as fertilizers, upon soils of sedi- 
mentary, drift, or alluvial formation. For example, green 
sand marly soils, requiring distinct applications from 
soils of decayed red sandstone, and again, scientific, as 
respects botanical and physiological differences, plant 
subsistence, pollination, reversion, etc. 

Systematic results, as affects species, can now gen- 
erally be accounted for by the thoroughly intelligent 
student of plant life and culture, and if system is pretty 
v^ell assured and the causes of such results fairly under- 
stood, gardening is on the direct road to become a sci- 
ence, and is certain to be so classed by the end of the 
century, though of course, in its higher walks, having 
but few practitioners amid the nations of the earth. 



74 MARKET GARDENING. 

Few farmers or gardeners have the patience, the 
inclination or the training, to be close observers of the 
habits of plants under different climates and soils, fre- 
quently so modified as to appear in new forms, the mod- 
ifications covering all the results of pollination and 
selection ; consequently those who have acquired this 
habit of observation are marked men in their respective 
communities. 

The variations in cultivated plants, due to the fancy 
or caprice of the seed grower, is not the only difficulty 
experienced by the purchaser of seeds who desires par- 
ticular qualities ; but equally difficult is the identification 
of fruits, flowers and vegetables under the various names 
by which they are sold, some particular varieties having 
a dozen names in as many locations, indeed, as many in 
the same locality. Of course, this can only be corrected 
by the natural determination among seed growers and seed 
merchants to refrain from the manufacture of names to 
advance the sale of their stocks in hand, but this is not 
likely to be soon realized, as there is no court or author- 
itative bodies to forbid the multiplication of names. 
Nevertheless, an effort is now being made to have estab- 
lished by Congress a national plant register, which, it is 
designed, shall give the description and history of every 
newly introduced fruit, vegetable, grain, flower or fiber, 
the record being official and authoritative. The bill, 
however, if passed, will not prevent Tom, Dick or Harry 
from introducing a plant by whatever name, good or 
bad, old or new, and the utmost that can be expected is 
that honest originators will register their introductions, 
and even some of these may not, through studied pur- 
pose or caprice. 

In England an official record has been kept for years 
by the Royal Horticultural Society, which issues certifi- 
cates to the exhibitors, for the first time, of new plants 
of merit. The introducers of good plants thus get a 



SAVING SEED. 75 

society notice, which is generally copied in all the agri- 
cultural or horticultural Journals, but the plant is very 
likely to appear the next year under a half dozen new 
names, though of course it can never again be registered. 
However, this renaming does not prevent it from being 
sold at very high prices, for the more extravagant the 
name and the higher the price the more dupes to buy it. 
Every gardener can save seed by permitting certain of 
his plants to stand long enough, but usually such a 
course does not pay, for the reason that garden space is 
generally so valuable that crops reaching edible condi- 
tion must be cleared away to make room for others in 
their season, and again, that on fields of limited extent, 
crops of various sorts of peas, beans, corn, melons, 
squash and cucumber become each within its own family 
hybridized, or interbred, so that crops grown from seed 
raised in the garden present in one lot all the qualities 
of the various crops of the preceding year, and always 
the poor qualities will be found to predominate, as with 
vegetable, like animal life, the coarse, ill bred types are 
the most precocious and prolific. Still, it is occasionally 
worth the time and labor of the amateur to experiment 
in seed saving, for it certainly affords interesting instruc- 
tion, whether the return be profitable or not, and it can- 
not be doubted that the very cross-fertilizing, consequent 
upon the crowding of crops in gardens, has been the 
origin of many valuable hybrids. This cross-fertilizing 
occurs during the flowering season, and results from the 
pollen, a light powder, produced by the organs of the 
male flower of one sort of bean, corn, melon, or other 
plant, falling upon the female organ of the flower of some 
other variety of the same family. The pollen, carried 
by the wind, "or borne on the bodies of insects, may be 
carried for miles. Corn has been known to intermix 
when planted hundreds of yards apart, or on opposite 
sides of a dense woodland, or on opposite sides of a river 



76 MARKET GAKDElSriNG. 

a mile in width. This natural disposition of established 
sorts to cross-breed has been taken advantage of by 
expert gardeners desiring to unite in one individual the 
good qualities of others. For inatance, a very early 
pointed cabbage may be crossed with a very late flat one. 
with the view of producing a variety, uniting the good 
qualities of both ; or with canteloupes, a poor variety 
with a showy netting may advantageously be crossed with 
a rich flavored sort without netting, and the result be a 
very desirable development, and so on with other plants 
without limitation. 

The gardener, possessing a greenhouse, can conduct 
experiments in hybridizing with more convenience and 
certainty in results than in the open garden, as inclem- 
ent weather will not interfere with his labors, nor insects 
defeat his purposes by crossing his selected plants from 
unknown sources. 

Seed Growers. — The professional seed grower 
aims to produce his general stock of seed without hy- 
bridization. He starts with approved forms and, grow- 
ing them apart, endeavors to strengthen or extend the 
desirable qualities of size, color, flavor, hardiness, or 
time of maturity. But all seed growers do not look 
upon a vegetable or fruit with the same eye and mind, 
consequently their conceptions of merit vary, and so do 
the plants which they pick out for select stock for the 
ensuing year. Thus it comes that seeds sold under the 
same name produce very different types of plants. One 
sugar corn grower may select his Evergreen, with short 
Jointed stocks, having ears near the ground ; another 
may pay no attention to the position of the ears, but 
select his seed alone for the size and shape of ear and 
depth and lightness of grain ; or one squash grower may, 
for years, choose his from which to save seed as respects 
closeness of setting upon the vine, outward shape and 
color of fruit ; while another may dwell principally 



:^fOVELTIES AND RESPON^SIBILTTIES. 77 

upon thickness of flesh texture and flayor. With this 
variability in the whims of seed growers, it cannot be 
wondered at that seeds sold under the same name pro- 
duce widely different results as to development. 



CHAPTEE XIV. 

Skedsmei^'s Novelties A]S"d Eespon"sibilities. 

There cannot be any good reason advanced why the 
seed grower should not seize upon and perpetuate vege- 
table hybrids or sports whenever they present new and 
desirable features, even though the plant, on the whole, 
is no better than some other well known sort. Novelties 
may often show no practical improvement, in any sense, 
being simply a variability of questionable utility in form, 
size or color ; nevertheless, the effort to develop novelties 
has resulted in an improvement in vegetables and flow- 
ers to such an extent that, in the manner of general 
excellence, the cultivated plants of the present day are 
far in advance of those of twenty years ago. 

Demand for Novelties. — Novelties in vegetables 
and flowers are all right, so far as they are true novel- 
ties, and selected by practical seed-growers, but, unfor- 
tunately, many so-called novelties are not the result of 
culture or selection by practical workers in the field, but 
altogether the product of the sensational seed merchant, 
who does his farming at his desk, his plow being his 
pen, drawn by an imagination so fertile as to have ex- 
hausted the vocabulary of the English language, to 
which he adds pictures and illustrations, ofttimes por- 
trayed in such an undignified and offensive manner as 
to bring his business down to the level of the mounte- 
bank. In no business of the present day is there so 



78 MARKET GARDENING. 

much disguised humbug aud open misrepresentation as 
in the seed business, — misrepresentation in description of 
color, form aud merit of vegetables and flowers, due, on 
oue hand, to ignorance, and on the other, to design, by 
illustration or pictures of monstrous and impossible veg- 
etables and flowers ; also in the illustration of seed stores, 
offices, seed-packing rooms, and published statements of 
.sales, all schemes to catch the eye and take the money 
of the confiding gardener. 

This reprehensible practice, originated by English 
"seedsmen, has been adopted in this country, and, as 
Americans do not like to be outdone by Britons, they 
have gone, uot one better, but advanced by strides and 
jumps, till the Englisliman hides his head in abashment 
at his own insignificance. 

It will, however, remain for the planter of novelties 
and specialties to determine for himself, whether they 
develop features of superior excellence upon his soil and 
under the conditions of his climate. On some soils they 
may possess very desirable qualities, and entirely fail on 
others. Merit in vegetables covers a wide range of char- 
acter. It may consist of coloring, form, size, texture, 
flavor, precocity, productiveness, or freedom, from dis- 
ease, sunburn or decay, resistance to insect depredations, 
and excessive heat or cold, Avet or drought. All these 
qualities are subjects for study in the field by the ob- 
serving seed grower, market or private gardener, for 
these cannot be determined at the desk of the modern 
catalogue manufacturer. So much humbug has been 
thrown into the seed catalogues of the past ten years, 
that the intelligent gardener has had his eyes opened, 
and he is now discriminating between those dealers who 
can advise technically and those who have no training 
in the field. 



novelties and kesponsibilities. 79 

Seedsmen's Eesponsibilities. 

A review of the seed catalogues, price lists and pub- 
lications of American, English, French and German 
seed merchants and seed farmers, will reveal the fact 
that they all disclaim responsibility for the consequences 
of planting seed obtained from them. They emphatic- 
ally declare they cannot, and will not, be held responsi- 
ble for the varying results of seed sold by them and 
planted by their customers, consequent upon influences 
of soil, rainfall, drouth, periods of sowing, inexperience 
of sower, and the many other causes which produce con- 
flicting results in the germination of seed, development 
of plants, and in the perfection of growth, fruit or flower. 

To clearly convey the position taken by European 
seed merchants upon this subject of responsibility, four 
forms of disclaimer, as published by as many well-known 
foreign seedsmen, are here given, all obhers using the 
same or similar forms : 

1st. " We herewith desire to remind our customers, 
that whilst using our utmost care to supply seed only 
of such quality as to insure entire satisfaction, we give no 
warranty as to description, quality or productiveness, 
there being too many causes, known and unknown, 
which prevent good seeds from germinating." 

2d. "AVe wish it to be distinctly understood, that 
while we exercise the greatest care to supply all seeds 
pure and reliable, we are not, in any respect, liable or 
responsible for the seeds sold by us, or for any loss or 
damage arising from any failure thereof." 

3d. "We send out only seeds that will, to the best 
of our belief, give entire satisfaction ; it must, however, 
be expressly understood that immunity from error being 
unattainable, and success more often dependent on cli- 
matic or local influences than is generally supposed, we 
warrant neither description, growth nor productiveness 
of any goods we sell, nor will we hold ourselves in any 
way responsible for the crop." 

4th. "We give no warranty, express or implied, 
as to description, quality, productiveness, or any other 



80 MAKKET GARDENING. 

matter of any seeds we send out, and we will not be, in 
any way, responsible for the crop. If the purchaser does 
not accept the goods on these terms they are at once to 
be returned." 

No seedsman with any security to his property rights 
could conduct a business where he would be subject to 
suits at law by every merchant and gardener who might 
be inclined to lodge at his door the material results of 
crops. Every observing worker in the garden can recall 
most contradictory experience in the sprouting and grow- 
ing of crops. For instance, in April, 1890, the writer 
drilled, on Bloomsdale Farm, many acres of bush beans of 
various sorts, and in the trial grounds planted samples of 
these and many other lots. These field crops and the 
trial ground plantings were repeated in May. The 
spring temperature was cold and the earth kept con- 
stantly cold and damp by frequent rains ; the results 
were so contradictory as to be beyond explanation. For 
example, a special variety, doing well in the field, did 
badly in the trial ground; or the same variety, doing 
well in trial grounds, did badly in the field. In every 
case the highest results were accepted as indicative of the 
percentage of vitality, though the same lot of beans may 
have exhibited the wide range of from twenty-five to 
ninety-five per cent of germination. 

The same irregular results are obsjrvable, not only 
in germination, but in subsequent growth, and all the 
way to maturity of form, size and quality of vegetable, 
fruit or flower from seed out of the same bag, all conse- 
quent upon natural or artificial condition of soil, tempo- 
rary influence of temperature by day, and quite as often 
by night ; sunlight, rainfall, favorable influence to urge 
into rapid growth, or unfavorable conditions to check 
progress often occurring at that period of the plant's 
develoj)ment, determining its merit for excellence, medi- 
ocrity or inferiority. 



NOVELTIES AKD KESPONSIBILITIES. 81 

Irregularity in sprouting is often observable with 
seeds just harvested, particularly so with corn and beans, 
as it would seem nature intended they should become 
dry or dormant before sprouting into new life. Seeds 
of cabbage, turnip and radish are liable to grow inoldy 
if kept in bags without ventilation, and often the seed 
merchant is blamed for the inattention of the consumer 
himself. 

The writer has known of many instances where 
freshly harvested, and, consequently, soft seeds of turnip, 
cabbage and radish, shipped because the consumer 
insisted upon having fresh seeds, proved, upon examina- 
tion later on in the season, after having been kept in 
bags as shipped, to have taken on a moldy smell and, on 
trial, to have fallen from ninety or ninety-five per cent, 
vitality to fifty per cent. Sugar corn is very liable to 
injury when stored in bags, and new beans shipped early 
in autumn are almost certain to sweat. 

In the United States the leading seedsmen publish 
a disclaimer to the same effect as their brethren in 
Europe, the phraseology, in general, being about the 
same. No sensible gardener would take exceptions to 
this, as it is only such a precaution as he himself would 
take, knowing full well the variable results of climate, 
soil, rainfall, and variations in the action of manures. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Weeds. 

An old adage among the English wheat growers is, 
*' that the greatest weed in wheat is wheat," implying 
tliat a plant of wheat properly developed must have 
room, that crowding by another, even of its own species, 
is injurious, and that a plant so crowding another is a 
weed. A weed, then, is a plant out of place, not neces- 
sarily a noxious plant, or a wild plant. 

The ordinary understanding adopts the term weed 
to designate an unattractive plant, without special value. 
On the farm the term weed is used to designate an 
intruder among cultivated crops, an uninvited gnest. 
As a rule, those plants recognized as weeds are of foreign 
origin, the seed being brought to this country through 
commerce, transported here with other seeds, or in pack- 
ing material of hay or straw. As an example may be 
cited the one hundred new plants which appeared and 
were scattered all over Fairmount Park after the Cen- 
tennial Exhibition, which were mainly from the forty 
countries represented. The delicate ones succumbed 
under our cold winter; many of the hardy ones still 
exist, spreading far and wide over the surrounding 
country. 

It is a curious fact to note that foreign weeds have 
taken a firmer place in our own garden and field than 
our aboriginal weeds, which have disappeared before the 
march of the invader as native tribes have succumbed 
before the descendants of the Europeans. All of our 
cultivated plants have their wild originals, and many of 

83 



WEEDS. 83 

our most ornamental flowers have been discovered away 
from the haunts of man, but whatever the form, color 
or habit of plants, injurious to other crops or exhausting 
the soil witliout profit, they are designated as weeds. 

Classification of Weeds, — These pestiferous 
plants may be divided into three classes : Annuals, 
developing seed and dying ^he same season ; biennials, 
taking two years to perfectly develop and produce seed, 
and then die ; perennials, covering several seasons of 
growth and seeding. These three classes may be di- 
vided as respects the character of underground growth, 
some producing surface roots, as rag weed, easily 
pulled up, others producing rod-shaped roots, as wild 
carrot, which can be extracted entire; other bulbs, as 
buttercups or garlic, very difficult of eradication, while 
others are tubers, as coco grass, a troublesome class, and 
still others, producing subterranean root-stems, as Can- 
ada thistle, having numerous buds, each capable of 
developing new plants. 

Destroying Weeds. — All these weeds, when in 
their first stages of growth, may be kept in check, if not 
entirely destroyed, in the garden, by plucking them 
when an inch or so high, or with a hoe or knife cutting 
them off, or by disturbing the soil with a cultivator, by 
turning under with a plow, or by smothering with mulch 
or waste material. Noxious weeds never should be per- 
mitted to mature their seeds ; if not destroyed they 
should certainly be so cut down and kept cut down as to 
prevent seed development. 

State Laws Respecting Weeds — In some 
States there are legislative enactments requiring the 
destruction of the Canada thistle, recognized everywhere 
as one of the most persistent and dangerous of encroach- 
ing weeds. Ifc would be well if a similar statute was 
adopted by all the States, and applied to other weeds, 
as mustard, ox-eye daisy, wild carrot, which careless 



84 MARKET GAEDEKIKG. 

farmers allow to propagate on their lands, to their own 
disgrace and to the manifest injury of their neighbors. 
A very intelligent French agricultarist, once visiting the 
writer, after making a tour of the United States, said 
the American farm was the most slovenly he had ever 
looked upon ; and it is quite true, for, as a rule, every 
farmer in this country has more land than he can prop- 
erly attend to, and, at the best, but few have had that 
education in the economy of space which has been so 
intently studied in Europe. 



CHAPTER XVI. 
Hotbeds and Cold Frames. 

The ordinary size of a convenient hotbed, may be 
ten feet, by six or seven feet wide, or it may be only 
of the dimensions of a common window sash, three feet 
by four feet, more or less. The shape has nothing to do 
with the definition, which may be to the effect that a 
hotbed is a box covered with glass, the whole placed 
upon a bed of soil resting on a bed of fermenting stable 
manure, the heat from which, rising in the form of 
vapor, warms and moistens the soil within the box, 
while, at the same time, the sun's rays, passing through 
the glass, are retained to warm and vivify the surface. 

Seeds sown within such a box will germinate in less 
time than without such protection. As an illustration 
of the varying forms which hotbeds may take, the writer 
may say that he once saw an efficient hotbed full of vig- 
orous vines of egg plant, made of a large oil or whisky 
barrel, with the head and bottom knocked out, and then 
let down half way into the earth and banked up all 
around with soil. In the bottom, six inches of stone 
were placed for drainage, and then eighteen inches of 



HOTBEDS AN"D COLD FRAMES. 85 

rich, unfermented liorse manure, six inches of fine rich 
earth, rising to within ten inches of the top of the bar- 
rel, the open top covered with a discarded window sash. 
We do not recommend such a hotbed, but it is an exam- 
ple of the simplicity with which one can be made. ' Witli 
a full understanding of the cardinal principles of so 
applying the manure as to make it hold the heat of fer- 
mentation, to handle the sash so as to collect and accu- 
mulate the sun's heat, it matters little what form the 
box assumes. 

The location of the hotbed has much to do with its 
success or failure. It should only be placed- on land 
always free from flooding, preferably on a declivity, with 
good subsoil drainage, sheltered from cold winds, and 
facing south or southeast. As an example of a iiotbed 
frame, we will describe it as a box for one, two or four 
sashes, each seven feet long by three and one-quarter feet 
wide. This dimension of sashes is given because it is 
easy to handle. The width named will allow for four 
lengths of 8x10 glass placed lengthwise. Whatever the 
dimensions of the sashes, all should be alike, so as to 
be interchangeable. The frame may be permanent, of 
brick or stone, or, temporary, of boards. The frame 
may be regularly built by a carpenter, with strong cor- 
ner pieces, or the gardener can do all the work himself 
and attain just as practical results. Doing the work 
himself, he may proceed as follows : The length and 
breadth of the bed having been decided upon, excavate 
a space two feet wider and two feet longer than the indi- 
cated dimensions. After the excavation is completed, 
drive down at the four corners, and at intervals between 
the corners, posts of proper lengths, four by four inches 
square, to which nail the side boards ; the posts on the 
back of the frame rising twelve to fifteen inches above 
the surface level, and those in front of the frame six to 
eight inches, nailing the boards only to those portions 



86 MAEKET GAKDENING. 

of the post which are above the earth level, the boxes, 
as it were, standing on stilts, it being desirable to nse 
as little lumber as possible. The excavation is for the 
purpose of keeping the material and contents of the bed 
as much removed as possible from frigid air currents, 
and. thus economize manure. 

Into the excavations of eighteen or twenty inches 
in depth throw one foot in thickness of cornstalks, 
leaves, half rotten straw and coarse manure, these princi- 
pally for preventing dampness or facilitating drainage ; 
on top of this coarse strata spread a layer of three to 
four inches of good horse-stable manui'e just beginning 
to ferment, avoiding pig and cow manure, as they do 
not heat. The manure for hotbeds must be well manip- 
ulated, that the fermentation may be prolonged, and 
this is best done by shaking out the manure loosely with 
forks, and, if exceedingly rich, mixing it with some 
poorer material, otherwise the fermentation will be too 
fierce and of too short duration ; indeed, to secure thor- 
ough mixing, it is well to turn the manure intended for 
hotbeds at least three times, at intervals of two days, 
and, when transferring the manure from the pile to the 
bed, it should be done quickly, that the manure be as 
little exposed to the chilling influence of the air as 
possible. 

Tramp the manure down and spread it evenly from 
end to end and side to side ; when done repeat with a 
layer of three or four inches, and when this is spread 
and well tramped down, add a third layer of the shortest 
and best unfermented manure, as this subsequently will 
be a feeding ground for plants, the various layers of 
manure making twelve to fourteen inches in total depth. 
If the spreading and tramping and quality of material 
be not regularly distributed in the bed, it will be irregu- 
lar and the plants the same. For early beds use the 
manure liberally. Very late beds can be made without 



HOTBEDS ANT) COLD FRAMES. 87 

any, as the sun, in late spring, will give sufficient heat. 

Manure for Hotbed. — As fresh horse-stable ma- 
nure, when used alone, is very heating and soon subsides, 
it is best to mix it with leaves or half rotten straw, as 
seed may be burned over manure of too high temperature. 
Of course it is impossible to indicate fixed dates for sow- 
ing, over a country so broad as this, and with such a 
variety of climatic conditions. The beginner can get 
his best hints for procedure from a gardener resident in 
his district, or others not far removed from it. Any 
recommendations here simply apply to the Atlantic 
Middle states, and even there the practice is very diverse. 
Tomatoes and egg plants are best sown from the first to 
the fifteenth of March, otherwise they attain too large a 
size before a right opportunity for transplanting may 
present itself. 

The writer, and all others of experience, find it 
always best to make two sowings. Cost of seed is a mat- 
ter of little importance, as compared with securing a sat- 
isfactory stand of plants. A gardener had better pay 
three dollars per pound for good seed than one dollar 
for seed that will not germinate, or, still worse, to prove, 
after germinating, to be of inferior quality, as thus his 
time and labor would be wasted. As it is always desirable 
to have the crop started ahead of the weeds natural to 
the soil, the writer suggests the soaking of the seeds 
before the bed is made, that when the bed arrives at the 
proper condition the seed may have germinated and be 
ready to sow. 

Sowing Seeds in Hotbeds. — With either tomato, 
egg plant or cabbage, mix the seed with three times its 
bulk of sifted sand, white sand preferred, that the seed 
may be better distributed ; soak in tepid water for one 
hour and place the mixture of sand and seed in shallow 
boxes or pans, carefully labeled, and kept in a warm 
place till the seeds show signs of germinating. Some 



88 MARKET GARDENING. 

varieties will take longer than others, and different crops 
of the same variety will take different periods to sprout. 
Seed thus treated and sown on a properly prepared bed 
will often show a green line twenty-four hours after sow- 
ing, and thus be several days ahead of the weeds. If 
the bed is ready before the seed can be prepared, as 
described, then sow the dry seed and trust to sun, ma- 
nure and water to hasten the process of germination. 
After sowing keep the surface moist. Seed started in 
pans may not need more than one watering previous to 
showing above ground. Dry seed may require three or 
four waterings, but the gardener must judge of this for 
himself, keeping the soil moist, but not wet, to the depth 
of one inch. 

Care of Hotbeds. — Hotbeds should be covered 
early in the evening, to retain their heat, and in the 
morning uncovered when the sun rests upon the glass, 
as every effort should be made to give the plants all the 
sunlight possible, as its rays are vivifying to a degree 
beyond the amount of its heat, it having a chemical and 
physiological effect beyond explanation. Even dull 
light is better than no light, consequently it is a bad 
plan to cover sashes with mats, except for the direct pur- 
pose of keeping out cold. 

If the box should be much charged with steam 
from the manure, let it off at the high side, otherwise 
the vapor may cause the plants to damp off. This 
damping off is a very serious matter, usually due to a 
want of ventilation, and it will occur whether there be 
steam or not in the box, unless the air be changed, as it 
really seems to become poisonous ; consequently the bed 
should be aired, even in cloudy and cool weather. The 
amount of air should be regulated by the amount the 
crop will stand without injury. By such proper treat- 
ment the plants will be short, stocky, with broad, green 
leaves ; with too little air the plants will be long-legged, 
yellow and sickly. 



HOTBEDS AND COLD TEAMES. 89 

Do not endeavor to obtain, by the exclusion of the 
outside air, that heat which the manure and sun should 
supply. By close attention to watering, airing and 
early afternoon closing, the development of hotbed 
plants may be advanced ten days over others not so care- 
fully looked after. It may be in place here to observe 
that much trouble may be saved by having all the sashes 
of uniform dimensions, as, if interchangeable, by a little 
good management a few sashes will often serve twice the 
number of boxes ; for, by moving the sashes along as the 
sowing progresses, their places being supplied by board 
coverings, much can be accomplished. 

After hotbed plants reach from two to three inches 
in height, they may be transplanted to other boxes or 
frames. These frames may be filled with good soil, 
heating manure being unnecessary, as the sun's rays in 
April or May should afford sufficient heat to advance 
them to a healthy growth. The soil in these frames 
should rest on a ten-inch drainage bed of rough manure, 
cornstalks, or trash, and should preferably be of two 
layers of distinct consistency, one a heavy soil on top of 
the drainage material, with three inches of light sandy 
soil on top of it. By this means the plants can be taken 
up for setting out in the open ground without injury to 
their fiber, which would be the case if the surface layer 
was of compact loam. The experienced gardener collects 
in the autumn the soil for his hotbeds, well knowing 
that Jack Frost, at the time he wants his hotbed soil, 
generally has it tightly locked up in an icy embrace. 

Transplanting Tender Plants Do not trans- 
plant to the field too early. It is best to cut tomatoes 
back to two inches when four inches high, which opera- 
tion makes them stocky, new buds will appear at each 
leaf stem, while the root will become more fibrous. 
Indeed, tomatoes well cut back and given plenty of air 
need not be transplanted from original beds, but can go 



90 MARKET GARDENIii^G. 

directly into the garden. Eighty feet square of hotbed 
surface drilled in rows at five inches apart should pro- 
duce enough plants to cover one acre of ground. Toma- 
toes grown in open air outside beds should plant one 
acre to each one hundred and fifty square feet. Seed- 
lings grown in outside beds need not be transplanted 
before removal to a permanent position in the field. At 
Bloomsdale, plants set out May 10th to 20th ripen fruit 
by July 4th. 

During the operation of transplanting, the newly 
planted bed should be shaded and watered as the work 
progresses, keeping the shade on for two days, removing 
it in the evenings or during rainy weather, after which 
the plants may have the full benefit of the sun's rays. 
In the evenings water sufficiently to keep the soil moist, 
and give plenty of air, while avoiding chilling them, 
and in a couple of weeks the plants will be ready to 
remove to the field. Egg plants take more heat than 
tomatoes, but they need as much ventilation and should 
have more room. 

Cabbage, cauliflower and lettuce sow broadcast, firsi 
raking the surface soil to the finest tilth, distributing 
the seed so that about ten seeds will fall to the square 
inch ; this many, to allow for unvital seeds, for too deep 
or too shallow covering, and for insect depredations. 
Rake as lightly as possible, so as not to cover more than 
one-eighth of an inch ; water, using a watering pot with 
a very fine rose nozzle, or dash on water with a broom, 
and put on the sash. 

Tomatoes, egg plants and peppers should be sown 
in rows, raking the surface soil to the finest tilth, and 
with a triangular stick of a length equal to the width of 
the box, press the sharp edge down into the fine soil, 
making straight parallel rows, or trenches, three inches 
apart, and not over one-half inch in depth. Drop the 
seeds in the row, five to eiffht seeds to the inch, of ess 



HOTBEDS AND COLD FRAMES 91 

plant or pepper, and of tomatoes quite ten to tne inch, 
cover over one-third inch deep with light soil from both 
sides of the trench, gently tapping the soil down with a 
shingle or light board, so as to bring the seed and earth 
into intimate contact. If the seed has been soaked and 
is mixed with wet sand, mix with some dry sand to make 
the mass friable. Sand will rather aid the germination 
than hinder it. When sowing germinated seed it must 
not be exposed to dry soil or wind, or it may be destroyed. 

Stable manure hotbeds will, it may be presumed, 
continue to be used, in spite of the cheapened construc- 
tion and completer development of beds and glass houses, 
heated by fire, cheap as they are, for they are too costly 
for some, take too much time to erect, and require early 
preparation. 

Forcing beds for hot air heating may have much 
the same appearance as manure hotbeds, and may be 
cheaply made by excavating a pit, or trench, a fcot 
deeper than described for the making of manure hotbeds, 
and laying in the pit a double line of iron or terra cotta 
smoke pipe leading from a furnace placed in a deeper 
pit at one end of the line to the extreme end of the 
excavation, and back to a cliimney built alongside or on 
top of the furnace, that the heat from the furnace, 
warming the cold air in the chimney, may drive it out, 
and thus, creating a partial vacuum, start a steady cur- 
rent tliroughout the entire length of the hot air fines. 

Nearly fifty years ago this arrangement was in use on 
Bloomsdale Farm, though some people think it is a new 
idea. The smoke pipes in the bottom of the trench 
are covered over by a floor of boards to suj)port the 
earth, the floor at the end next to the furnace being 
twelve to fifteen inches above the pipes, but at the other 
end approaching to within six inches, because of the 
loss of heat at the extremity. 

Intermediate Bed. — The term "intermediate 
bed" may be applied to beds or frames used in the au- 



92 MARKET GARDENI]!fG. 

tumn for the propagation of lettuce, parsley and other 
crops intended to mature during winter. In sash beds 
two crops can be grown, first lettuce, again lettuce, witli 
radish between the rows. The boxes should be on a dry 
piece of land and well sheltered from fierce blasts of 
wintry air. 

To make the frame, drive or set posts into the 
ground, projecting above the surface, twelve inches on 
the back and eight inches on the front, the distance 
between the front and back lines being three inches less 
than the length of the sashes, so as to admit of an over- 
hanging at both ends, to cast off water. Board up the 
two lines and the two ends, and the skeleton is com- 
pleted. Next put in cross pieces at proper distances'for 
the sash to run on ; these can be mortised in at both 
ends. Next dig out the interior of the frames to a depth 
of ten inches, preserTing the good top soil, and fill in 
the excavation with drainage material of trash, dead 
leaves and vines, strawy manure, or even shavings, 
well pressed down. On top of the filling of the pit place 
four to five inches of good surface soil, and on top of that 
a couple of inches of soil still better if it can be had, if 
not, work -in some fine compost and some sand, raising 
the surface to within eight or nine inches of the glass. 
In sowing intermediate beds, ]3roceed the same as in sow- 
ing hotbeds. If old hotbeds are used the preparation for 
the seeding, consists in turning over the surface soil, 
and possibly adding two inches of fresh sandy compost. 

Cold Frame. — A cold frame is a winter storage 
box containing plants to be transplanted into hotbeds, 
or in the field in spring. It is always made without 
manure, and may be made without underd rain age, 
though such drainage always has its advantages. If 
made for merely temporary use, the front and back 
boards may be held by stakes driven down on each side 
of the boards to hold them in place. The cross pieces 



HOTBEDS AND COLD FRAMES. 93 

used in hotbeds and intermediate beds are not needed in 
cold frames, which are intended to be kept in a dormant 
state ; therefore no warmth is necessary, and uo glass is 
needed except in extremely cold weather. Sometimes 
the plants are started in the frame in the early autumn, 
other times they are taken from other localities and dib- 
bled in, or laid in or bedded very closely, the aim being 
to suspend or retard growth. Plants in cold frames, 
when frozen, must not be exposed to the sun, but on 
mild days plenty of air should be given to keep them 
sound and healthy. 

Plant Pit — A pit for plants is used for housing or 
protecting during winter half hardy plants, many of 
which, in a well constructed pit, blossom during winter 
and will all be well advanced in spring. In general 
principles a plant pit is similar to a cold frame bed, 
made more durable, and also set deeper in the earth. 

To construct a cheap plant pit, select a dry location 
and mark off the length desired, and of width equal to 
the length of sashes used. As the contents of a cold 
pit are intended to stand from autumn to spring it, 
should be placed on land not likely to be flooded by 
rain, melting snow or back water. Plant pits may be 
for permanent or temporary use, and of either brick or 
wood. If of wood, a solid frame may be used, made by 
setting or driving posts in two parallel lines, the back 
line twenty inches higher than the front ; or dig out the 
earth to a depth of two feet and set square sided posts at 
the corners, and along the sides to which nail on boards, 
making a box without a bottom or t^p within the exca- 
vation. The posts on the back should be three and one- 
half feet long. On top of the frame place six covered 
bars, at proper intervals, for the sash to slide upon the 
ends of the bars mortised into the back and front boards 
of the frame. Pack the earth tightly in the cracks 
beneath the surface around the outside of the box, and 



94 MARKET GARDENIJSTG. 

above the surface bank up all around with the excavated 
earth. The ]3it is now ready for tlie reception of potted 
plants of primulas, pelargoniums, violets, wall flowers, 
begonias, heliotroj)es, fuchsias, abutilons, lilies or roses, 
the tallest plant being placed on the back, where the 
elevation is three and one-half feet. 



CHAPTEE XVII. 

Market Gardening Under Glass. 

So many and so radical have been the changes in 
modern commercial gardening during the last twenty- 
five years that a practical market gardener, of a quarter 
of a century ago, who, like Eip Van Winkle, should have 
taken a sleep from 1870 until the present, on awaking 
would find that his profession, as he understood it, had 
passed away, his old-fashioned and pet methods having 
•been so altered that he would neither recognize nor under- 
stand the ways and means in practice by his scientific 
successors. Similar improved methods and appliances 
run through every branch of horticulture, but there is 
no branch where there have been more innovations made 
than in that of forcing vegetables under glass. These 
various changes in modes of culture are the result of a 
rapidly increasing demand in large cities and towns in 
the north and west for lettuce, radishes, cucumbers and 
other esculents for winter and early spring use. To 
meet this constant, ever-broadening and profitable branch 
of gardening, new and improved systems had to be de- 
veloped. As long as the art of gardening has been prac- 
ticed, both for private advantage and, in a limited ex- 
tent, for commercial purposes, forcing certain vegeta- 
bles in winter has been customarv, but the old methods. 



MARKET GAEDEifING UKDER GLASS. 95 

entailing a great amount of manual labor, were expen- 
sive, the cost, if taken into account, being often greater 
than the yalue of the articles produced. Every reading 
gardener knows that lettuce, asparagus, radish and 
cucumbers have, for a century, been grown during win- 
ter by bottom heat in glass covered hotbeds or in cold 
frames, which slow methods are in use yet by private 
gardeners for home consumption ; but with the commer- 
cial market gardener, who aims for the largest net re- 
turns from his capital and labor, the old style hotbed 
and cold frame no longer answer the purpose, for they 
are expensive, as compared with returns, and do not 
enable him to meet the enormously increased demand 
for crisp winter-grown vegetables. In changing from 
the old to the present system, mistakes were made in 
the construction of the early forcing-houses, which time 
and practical experience have modified and corrected. 
Accordingly, such structures, built during the last 
eight or ten years, are very different in appearance and 
interior arrangements from those erected a dozen years 
ago. At that time the ordinary greenhouse form was 
imitated in constructing vegetable forcing houses. These 
were usually built eleven feet wide and as long as neces- 
sary, with side walls four feet high, the top roofed with 
movable sashes three by six feet. In such houses there 
were two tables three and one-half feet high running 
the whole length, with a narrow passage-way in the cen- 
ter. On these wooden tables, or benches, prepared soil, 
to a depth of twelve to fourteen inches, was placed, and 
made ready for the process of culture. The heating was 
done by hot water, the same as now. The water used 
was lifted by hand-worked force-pumps, and applied 
sometimes by hose, but generally by the expensive sys- 
tem of hand-pots, entailing a great amount of labor, a 
slow and expensive method compared with the system 
now practiced. 



96 MAEKET GARDENING. 

As stated, the form of houses and interior construc- 
tion of those built recently are different in appearance 
and more economically arranged for the specific purpose 
of raising winter vegetables ; the changes are but the 
results of practical experience in this branch of horti- 
culture by some of the most thrifty and prosperous mar- 
ket gardeners in the vicinity of Philadelphia, where this 
system of market gardening is carried out on a most ex- 
tensive scale. It may be of interest to briefly outline 
the construction of four distinct styles of forcing houses 
for vegetables, which may be designated as systems num- 
bered 1st, 2d, 3d and 4th. 

In reference to system No. 1 a progressive and suc- 
cessful market gardener in New Jersey has said: "I 
have built, in all, fourteen large vegetable forcing- 
houses, and the one that I have just completed I con- 
sider as near right as it is possible to get it, and that 
after an experience of twelve years in this branch of gar- 
dening." In this connection the fact may be mentioned, 
incidentally, that the gardener referred to is both thrifty 
and prosperous, the result of skill in conducting a busi- 
ness requiring a keen, practical and observing mind, 
with the energy and cash to carry out his plans. His is 
the kind of experience that is of real value to beginners, 
and my aim is to give, as concisely as possible, the sub- 
stance of such experience, gathered from those who 
bought it dearly by hard work and disappointment in 
their first efforts. Facts, when gleaned from such 
sources, are of value to those who are about to embark 
in the same line of business. To be able to avoid the 
stumbling blocks and steer clear of the mistakes likely 
to be made in a new undertaking is of the utmost 
importance, as saving time and cash, two important 
considerations. 

The forcing house recently constructed by the mar- 
ket gardener referred to and which may be designated as 



MARKET GAEDENISTG UKDER GLASS. 97 

plan No. 1, is thirty-one feet wide, outside measure, two 
feet less inside, and two hundred and fifty feet long. The 
liouse is set down in an excavation, partly below the sur- 
face, the footwalks being thirty inches below the outside 
level. The exterior walls, four feet high, are built of 
brick, thii-ty inches below the surface and eighteen 
inches above it on the outside. The top of these walls 
is finished to receive a plate. The top of the house is 
a lean-to span with a hip-joint. The ridge-pole is eleven 
feet above the floor, and jointed. The pine strips run- 
ning from the plate to the ridge-pole are one and one- 
half by two and one-half inches, made fast to a cross- 
piece at the hip-joint and ridge-pole, and are ten inches 
apart. Heavy French glass 8x10 is glazed on the out- 
side of the strips. It is economy to use the best quality 
of glass for this purpose. Every twelve feet on both 
sides there is a hinged sash, running from the plate to 
the hip-joint. By this means the house can be aired 
when necessary, an operation of the utmost importance. 
With this exception the roof structure is made fast, 
avoiding the use of movable sashes entirely. The water, 
falling upon the roof, is all saved and led by gutters into 
a cistern at the end of the house, to be used for watering 
the plants when needed. As the rain falling upon the 
roof may not be sufficient, a well and pump are provided 
to meet cases of emergency. There are three tables, or 
beds, running the length of the house, and two narrow 
passage-ways. The center bed, which is eighteen feet 
wide, is made by erecting two parallel walls of brick, 
running through the length of the house to within six 
or eight feet of each end. These walls should be eight 
inches thick and three and one-half feet high. In digging 
the excavation for the house, the space designed for the 
center bed may be left intact, excepting the removal of 
the upper half. This block of natural soil is walled in, 
forming a solid bed distinct from the side beds, which 
7 



98 MARKET GAEDENING. 

are open beneath. Upon the bank of natural soil is 
placed well-rotted manure and garden soil preparatory 
to culture. Elevated beds (the exponents of this system 
claim), are more desirable than those sunken to the 
level of the floor, in the economy of heating, as well as 
in working, elevated ones being credited with producing 
more uniform crops than the others, at less expense. 
The use of brick instead of wood for the center table is 
an improvement in the method of construction Avhich 
will strike every practical gardener favorably. In a 
house that is kept damp and warm several months of 
the year, wood will rot out every five years, and it is the 
experience of every gardener that the wooden tables have 
to be removed every five years, a very considerable item 
of expense in a large house. As a matter of fact, the 
first outlay, for brick and building the walls, is much 
more than wooden benches would cost, but the brick 
lasts as long as there is a roof kept over the house. 
Many instances may be cited where gardeners have been, 
and are now, making the change of substituting brick 
for wood on the basis of economy. As already stated, 
the side beds are not solid, as is the center bed, but are 
open for the location of hot and cold water pipes, it 
being very desirable, if not necessary, that these pipes 
be accessible at all points. The supports for these side 
tables, which are three and one-half feet wide, may be 
brick columns or wooden posts, with slate or boards for 
the sides and bottom. The same depth and quality of 
soil should be placed on the benches as on the center 
table. The roof of the forcing house is supported by 
three lines of iron rods, or pipes, one and one-half inches 
in diameter, and set about ten or twelve feet apart. One 
of these lines of support runs from the ridge-pole to the 
center of the middle bed, and the other two from the 
hip-joint to the edge of the side beds, thus holding 
the roof of the house. In the construction of vegetable- 



MAEKET GAEDENIl^G UKDER GLASS. 99 

forcing houses the cost must naturally vary more or less 
in different localities on account of labor and material, 
the method of building and the finish put upon the 
houses. Estimates for the construction of such houses 
are within tlie reach of every gardener, including all the 
appurtenances to make the houses complete for use. 
Every horticultural journal gives, in its columns, the 
addresses of persons whose business it is to build houses 
of this description, and all other designs now in common 
use by practical, commercial gardeners. In the same 
journals can be found advertisements of all the leading 
manufacturers of heating apparatus. 

The approximate cost of a vegetable forcing house, 
erected upon system ISTo. 1, dimensions 30x250 feet com- 
plete, will not exceed $4,500. This comprises cost of 
boiler, hot and cold water pipes, about 11,700, and the 
pipes and cocks for watering about $100 more. Such a 
house may be heated by hot water carried in three lines 
of three-inch pipes running around under the side tables, 
or it may be heated by steam, the water being forced by 
natural circulation. This amount of heating surface is 
quite sufficient to keep the house at a temperature rang- 
ing from 40° to 50° during the most severe weather of 
mid-winter. In fact, all that is really necessary the 
coldest nights is to have heat enough to keep frost out 
of the house. In growing and forcing vegetables in 
winter there is nothing gained by having the tempera- 
ture higher than here indicated. It is, on the contrary, 
detrimental to the healthy and vigorous growth of 
plants. In the latitude of Philadelphia it will take 
about fifteen tons of coal to heat a house of the size 
described during the cold months. The aim, in past 
days, to get a high temperature in forcing houses, was 
one of the serious and expensive mistakes made by gar- 
deners when such structures were first substituted for 
hotbeds and cold franies. The want of success and, at 



100 MAEKET GARDENING. 

times, the loss of all or a portion of the crop was, in the 
estimation of the more practical gardeners of the present 
day, often owing to overheating. A reduced amount of 
heat is less expensive, and, at the same time, the results 
are more satisfactory. In following the system of mod- 
erate heating there is less loss among soft-leaved vege- 
tables from what gardeners term ''damping off." This 
dreaded disease comes like a thief in the night, and 
works destruction with the crop. Instances are well 
known where one-half to two-thirds of a crop of lettuce, 
in large houses, has been destroyed by this "damping 
off" before the plants were half grown. It seems to be 
the fashion nowadays to attribute all obscure cases of 
mortality of plants under glass to "fungoid growth." 
A little science is a dangerous thing, and it would often 
be more practical to attribute it to a want of physical 
strength consequent upon unfavorable conditions. 

The modern method of watering forcing houses is 
very different now from what it was formerly. In fact, 
the present system entails little labor ; a half -grown boy, 
with good sense, can perform the work without difficulty. 
A pipe one and one-quarter inches in diameter connected 
with the steam pump and cistern, and then laid under 
the side benches with screw-tipped faucets arranged at 
intervals of twenty feet, so that a rubber hose may be 
attached, is the present form of apparatus. To the end 
of the rubber pipe should be fixed a rose, or sprinkler, 
twice or thrice as large as the rose on a large watering- 
pot ; with this the watering can be done with ease and 
rapidity. The holes in the rose, or nozzle, should be 
small, so as to throw a large and fine spray of water over 
the beds. The frequency of watering depends altogether 
on the condition of the atmosphere. There are times 
when the beds should be watered daily, and, again, when 
once or twice a week will be quite sufficient. This is a 
matter that every practical gardener exercising common 



MAKKET GAKDEKING UNDER GLASS. 101 

sense will soon settle in his own mind. The beds should 
be kept moist, without liemfy soaked and soggy. As a 
matter of course, towards spring, -when the sun is warm, 
the beds will need more moisture than in mid-winter, 
"when the weather is cold and cloudy. 

The estimate for labor for a house of the size de- 
scribed can only be approximately stated. Of course, 
there is nothing to be done inside of the house from 
June until October. Allowing a liberal compensation, 
the labor should not exceed three hundred dollars, and 
this may be considered an outside figure. With intelli- 
gent management and sufficient capital there is always 
sure to be a handsome profit realized on the investment. 

Among the many successful market gardeners in 
the vicinity of Philadelphia, may be named Messrs. Mab- 
bit & Wiles, Camden, IST. J. This firm has a tract of 
six acres, nearly one-half of which is under glass, and so 
worked as to illustrate the profit which can be had by 
systematic management and practical experience. The 
style of construction of the houses of this firm may be 
designated as system No. 2. 

The greater portion of these houses have surface 
beds, but some are fitted with elevated tables, these 
being the best for lettuce, cress and radish, which, grown 
in midwinter, require to be near the light, but, as cauli- 
flower, a very important crop, a later and taller plant, 
does best on surface beds, much of the lettuce and cress 
has to be grown on the level. 

These houses, built upon the natural level, are 
erected in blocks, the largest block covering a space of 
solid glass surface of about 200x100 feet. This block is 
composed of thirteen parallel sections, the continuity of 
the beds being broken only by an openwork of support- 
ing posts and foot walks. The width of the houses in 
this block is sixteen feet, elevation at the ridge eight 
feet, the ridge timbers being supported by a line of light 



102 MAEKET GARDEN'IN'G. 

center posts, the side sills by heavy posts four feet high 
and five feet apart. These posts rest on brick founda- 
tions. At one end of the line of houses is a glass-roofed 
cross-section covering a footwalk of thirty inches, and 
covering also a plant bench forty inches wide set against 
the wall ; on this bench may be raised any of the small 
crops. Under the bench mushrooms are successfully 
grown, the light being excluded by cloths hanging in 
front and reaching to the ground, the mushroom spawn 
pricked out on a level surface, the earth and manure 
mixture being first properly compounded, and upon the 
degree of its proper preparation much depends the 
measure of success. 

The ventilation is, of course, a most important sub- 
ject. As a rule, plants do not get enough of it, but of 
this experience alone can be the only guide. The glass 
is thick, 10x12, put on with oil and lead mixture, the 
panes lapping and fixed in place by S hooks. The glass 
selected is free from blisters. The cost of such houses is 
estimated at three dollars per running foot. 

For houses where the operations are sufficiently ex- 
tensive to Avarrant the employment of a night engineer, 
steam, as the heating agent, is found to be more efficient 
than hot water, as by steam perfect control of the tem- 
perature can be had, but, in houses so small as not to 
profitably sustain the expense of a night engineer, hot 
water is recommended ; as the water well heated up at 
bed-time may, with banked fires in the furnace, be relied 
upon to sustain a safe temperature till morning. 

The heating system in the houses under considera- 
tion is by four six-inch steam pipes passing through each 
house, of sixteen feet in width, such pipes carried about 
eight inches above the level of the surface beds. Pro- 
tection from wind is a valuable factor in the economical 
heating of a forcing house, as in bleak situations more 
than double the coal is required than is consumed in shel- 



MARKET GARDENING UNDER GLASS. 103 

tered situations. The plant beds are watered by a hose 
which is attached to a three-inch supply pipe running 
along the passage at one end of the houses. 

The soil used in these houses is removed CTery year 
and spread in extensive chicken pens, where it is 
scratched over and worked up by the fowls, which ex- 
terminate all insect life, while at the same time fertiliz- 
ing and ameliorating the mass. The plant beds, after 
being excavated, are filled in with earth from the chicken 
pens, where it has already been worked over by fowls. 
The manure used is finely decayed stable manure or 
compost, the elements of which are of little consequence, 
so that they be thoroughly decayed and in fine condition. 
Of course, the usual precautions are taken to keep in 
subjection lice and other insects. Fumigation by burn- 
ing tobacco stems is cheap and effective if not overdone. 

O^hree good paying crops raised in glass houses are 
considered a full success, often only two are really prof- 
itable. The rotation of crops is, first, lettuce, which, 
when removed, is followed by radish, and, when an inch 
high, if on the level, may have set out among it cauli- 
flower plants. The variety of lettuce found most relia- 
ble is Boston Market, which has a good leaf and carries 
well ; of radish for shipment, the Carmine Globe is of 
good form and color, though there is a large demand in 
Philadelphia for a small early white turnip radish. Of 
cauliflower, the extra early Erfurt is a quick and reliable 
variety. Other crops are grown in considerable breadth, 
water cress, parsley, French sorrel, mint and tomatoes, 
often bringing sixty to seventy-five cents per pound. 
The laborers required in a house covering a square of 
twenty thousand feet is from five to ten men. 

The commercial gardener who has the capital and 
ability to carry on an extensive system of vegetable gar- 
dening under glass, thoughtfully secures a line of direct 
customers for his products by making contracts with 



104 MARKET QARDEliriN'G. 

hotels, restaurants and club houses, not depending upon 
the chance sales of commission merchants. Such con- 
tracts as referred to cannot be obtained by a small pro- 
ducer, as his crop is too limited and too transient to 
command the confidence of a large daily consumer who 
cannot afford to run any chances of supply. 

The highest price obtained for head lettuce is gen- 
erally in the month of March, when they sometimes 
bring seven dollars per one hundred. Small red radishes 
sell highest in January and February, when they often 
bring forty cents per one hundred, put up in bunches of 
twelve. Cauliflowers are most profitable in March and 
April, and they frequently bring fifty cents each. Of 
course, it is understood that all vegetables, especially 
those forced under glass, are in best condition immedi- 
ately after pulling or cutting, but it may be profitable to 
know the maximum extent of time during the cool 
months, during which hothouse vegetables can be trans- 
ported in satisfactory condition. This period for lettuce, 
cauliflower and radishes, from two to three days, pro- 
vided they are carefully packed. 

Plan No. 3. The style of construction of houses 
under system ISTo. 3 is the design of a market gardener 
of Camden, N. J., Mr. Eodolphus Bingham, who has 
built a very cheap forcing house for vegetables, the 
framework of which any farmer can erect. The house 
may be single, or better, double. The sills are laid 
upon the natural earth thirteen feet apart, kept from 
spreading by stakes driven on the outside, the rafters 
and ridge erected, the sash laid on, and the work is 
done, except placing boiler with furnace and fitting hot 
water pipes. The advantages claimed by Mr. Bingham 
for this plan are : 

First — A saving in cost of construction by doing, 
away with all supporting posts or walls. 

Second — A saving of heat by placing the furnace 



MARKET GAEDEKING UNDEK GLASS. 105 

and boiler in a pit in the center of the house, so that all 
radiated heat may be utilized. 

Third — Carrying the smoke flues from the furnace 
the entire length of the house, and beneath one of the 
beds if the house be a double one ; then carrying the 
smoke beneath the middle sill, provided the length is 
not more than one hundred feet in each direction, so as 
to get all the heat out of the smoke which otherwise 
would pass out of the stack. 

Fourth — By keeping the glass down near the beds 
the volume of air to be heated may be reduced to a 
minimum. 

Fifth — By carrying hot water pipes, in large air 
flues, twelve or fourteen inches below the surface of the 
plant beds, the tops of the flues planked over with open 
Joints, so that a large volume of warmed air may pass 
upward through the soil. By the several plans of under- 
ground heating Mr. Bingham claims that fifty per cent, 
of the heat wasted in other houses is saved, and in the 
health of the plant is found a practical application of 
the rule relating to human hygiene — that to most fully 
preserve health it is best to keep the "feet warm and 
the head cool." 

For ventilation, one or all the outside sashes may be 
pulled down, or off, that on warm days the plants may 
be literally turned out of doors to free air and direct 
sunshine. The rafters and caps are of original design, 
and the entire arrangement is claimed as a combination 
of many of the best principles of forcing house construc- 
tion. The joints are so made as to be very thoroughly 
air tight. The surface of the beds is nearer the glass 
than in other plant houses, the roof structure being set 
down upon the natural surface of the earth ; the house, 
in fact, being nothing but a roof or combination of 
roofs, the paths under the ridge being excavated twenty- 
four inches deep in the solid earth, the plant beds being 



106 MARKET GAEDENIHG. 

upon the surface near the glass, at a convenient distance 
for working, and all within an arms length. 

The mechanical work, except boiler-setting' and 
pipe-fitting, may all be completed in the sash factory, 
and readily set up or taken down by any farmer. The 
beds are five feet six inches wide. The entire structure 
map be taken ajDart in summer and stored away. In the 
autumn the sills may be laid, the roof-frame erected, 
the sash put on, and the house used for plants till early 
spring, when the beds may be set full with cauliflowers, 
tomato or egg plant, and six weeks earlier than would 
be safe outside, and after all danger of frost is past, the 
sash, caps and rafters may be removed, and the crops 
cultivated and matured far in advance of any in the 
garden. 

Mr. Bingham has now two houses 26x250 feet which 
he erected in the middle of January over ground frozen 
seven inches deep, in which he set many thousands of 
plants as fast as the gronnd was thawed. These he has 
carried through severe weather, ranging down to zero, 
with less than one-half in cost of coal used in other 
houses of the same surface. From the 1st to the 9th 
and from the 13th to the 15th of February, when the 
thermometer ranged down as low as 20° Fahrenheit at 
sunrise, he had no fire in the furnace, the warmth in 
the ground, with the sunlight, being sufficient to keep 
the plants growing and in healthy condition. Such a 
house is more simple to work than more expensive struc- 
tures, and costs 30 per cent, less to build and requires 
but 50 per cent, of the heating power. 

Farmers who have ordinary hotted sashes may use 
them on the frame of such a house, but, as a rule, such 
sashes are made of glass far too small, the many bars and 
joints arresting too much sunlight. The best modern 
sashes are made with glass not less than 12x16 inches. 
The sash bars should be narrow, the glass not put in 



MARKET GARDENING UNDER GLASS. 107 

with putty but with white lead and oil mixed to a syrupy 
consistency and applied with an oil can. Those who 
use long broad glass will all testify to the very great 
advantage of doing away with all possible obstructions 
to light. 

In the most rudimentary work as well as in higher 
class gardening, a house of this design will be found 
practical for efficiency, cheapness, easy heating, and, to 
the farmer accustomed to the inclement work of manag- 
ing winter and spring hotbeds, it will be found to save 
much uncomfortable exposure. The maximum of eleva- 
tion is six and one-half feet from the bottom of the foot- 
walk, which is a trench two feet deep cut out of the 
solid earth, this reducing the volume of air to be heated, 
as many houses have too much overhead space, and 
therefore are very expensive to heat. 

Novices in gardening under glass cannot expect to 
immediately gain a knowledge of the processes practiced 
by professional men who have given years of close study 
to the development of the best methods of forcing plants. 
In order to reap the largest returns from vegetable forc- 
ing houses the beds should be ready to plant by the end 
of September, no>t later than the first week in October. 
The soil for the beds should be naturally of good texture, 
and incorporated with a liberal amount of short, well- 
rotted stable manure that has been composted and thor- 
oughly worked over, so that the coarser fiber of the 
straw or litter has disappeared. To get this condition, 
which is very essential, the manure will have to be in a 
fermenthig heap for nine to twelve months before it is 
thoroughly fit to use. Garden soil, or old sods, still 
better, a good percentage of peat, mixed in with the 
manure, will add to its value for the purposed needed. 
Gardeners located near large cities obtain street sweep- 
ings from the streets where horses stand; this they mix 
in with the short stable manure, the mass forming, when 



108 MARKET GAKDEiq"ING. 

thoroughly decomposed, a rich black mold, an excellent 
fertilizer. Some gardeners make use of a light applica- 
tion of superphosphate of lime and of nitrogenous fer- 
tilizer, as dried meat and blood, before j)lanting the 
beds. But the main reliance is best placed upon the 
compost heap. Those who water with enriched water 
find one ounce of sulphate of ammonia to five gallons of 
water to be an excellent application for lettuce, while 
for radishes, two ounces of dried blood to five gallons of 
water produce the best results. Before planting, the 
soil on the beds should be worked over and pulverized, 
the surface made smooth and level. Lettuce is gener- 
ally the first crop, and set with a dibble at seven to 
eight inches apart each way. This part of the operation 
requires no great skill, outside of getting the lines 
straight and setting the plants at proper depth and at 
proper distances apart, the lines being parallel to each 
other in both directions. This is essential, so that at 
times when the surface crusts, it can be loosened each 
way by the use of small scuffle hoes. This operation 
may be found necessary two or three times during the 
growth of the plants. 

Practical gardeners know that none of the curled- 
leaved varieties of lettuce will stand forcing under glass. 
This is so well understood that those having any experi- 
ence never plant any of the curled sorts in a vegetable 
forcing house. The varieties which will succeed best 
for these purposes are Forcing, Tennis Ball, Silver Ball, 
Bloomsdale Reliable, Boston Market and Big Boston. 
The first two kinds are compact in growth, while all 
make good heads under glass, and they are, without 
doubt, the most profitable sorts to grow. The experi- 
enced gardener purchases his seeds only from seed 
merchants of established reputation. 

To secure plants for the first crop the seed should 
be sown in a sheltered space in the garden, say six weeks 



MARKET GARDENING UNDER GLASS; 109 

before the time for planting, August 15th or September 
1st, for example. For the second and third crops the 
seed may be sown under glass in a corner of one of the 
houses a month before the plants are wanted for setting 
out. It is always a safe plan to sow an abundance of 
seed, for yery often a portion of the plants in the seed 
bed meet with some mishap, cutting the supply short 
when it is too late to replenish the stock in good time. 
If the houses are kept at the proper temperature, the 
first crop planted, say October 1st, will be ready for 
market in seven to eight weeks from the time of plant- 
ing. This will give an abundance of time to raise three 
crops of lettuce between October 1st and the latter part 
of March. This is allowing considerable margin for 
harvesting each crop, and to make the necessary prepa- 
rations for planting. This preparation of the beds for 
the second and third crops is similar to the first, with 
the exception that, if manure is applied freely for the 
first, the soil will be rich enough to mature the three 
crops without any addition, except, perhaps, a little 
ammoniacal fertilizer as a stimulant. This should be 
scattered on and raked in during the preparation for the 
second and third crops. The rapid and uniform growth 
of lettuce depends largely on the quality of the soil in 
which it is set, and the Judicious management of the 
house, in heating and Avatering. There is no use in 
starting a crop under glass with poor, hungry soil ; there 
should be no doubt on this question of fertility, for with- 
out it all efforts at culture will fail. If the gardener has 
a number of forcing houses under his control, he should 
not plant too much of one kind at a time, but at inter- 
vals of one or two weeks, so that his whole crop will not 
mature at the same time, as it throws too much work 
upon "him at once, and possibly at an unprofitable period. 
Instead of a third crop of lettuce, some gardeners sow a 
crop of radishes. As a rule, the receipts from a crop of 



110 MARKET GAEDEI^Iiq^G. 

radishes will amount to about the same as from a third 
croT) of lettuce, which, of course, is always less than the 
first or second croj). 

A week or two before the last crop of letture is 
ready for market, hills for cucumbers may be made six 
to eight feet aj)art in the beds, and the seeds planted. 
The lettuce is out of the way long before the cucumbers 
begin to run and need room. Cucumbers planted in 
this manner come into market at the same time others 
arrive from Florida and Charlestown. The forced cu- 
cumbers sell freely for twice as much as those coming 
from the South, being fresh and crisp, while the others 
are not. When the cucumbers are taken off, the houses 
are given rest for the balance of the summer, unless the 
market is such as to warrant those usually less profitable 
crops, such as asparagus, egg plant, tomatoes, rhiibarb, 
parsley, sorrel, chives and strawberries. 

Aphis, or Green Fly. — Among the most serious 
annoyances to the indoor gardener is the '''green fly." 
Fumigating with tobacco leaves is the most general rem- 
edy. This operation has to be repeated twice a week as 
long as any flies remain. The most simj)le, and an 
effective method of fumigating, is to have a number of 
small sheet iron cones, from fifteen to eighteen inches 
high, and eight to ten inches in diameter, each having 
a grate near the botton, an opening to give draft, and a 
damper to regulate the draft. In each place a charge of 
damp tobacco stems and wood shavings, and set them in 
different parts of the house, igniting all at the same 
time. This will be found the best and most effectual 
way to apply the tobacco, using about two pounds of 
dry tobacco to every one thousand feet of glass. 

Profits from Forcing Houses. — The profits from 
this branch of market gardening depend largely upon 
the skill and intelligence of the gardener. The first 
and second crops of lettuce, if planted at the dates 



MAKKET GARDEKTKG UNDER GLASS. Ill 

named, and well grown, with crisp, solid heads, may 
sell at wholesale at from seventy-five cents to a dollar a 
dozen, or from four to five dollars a barrel. The third 
crop sells for less, say from fifty to seventy-five cents a 
dozen. Clean, perforated barrels are best for shipping 
lettuce, and when carefully packed the lettuce will keep 
fresh for a week. There are times when general business 
is dull and prices fall below these figures, and, on the 
other hand, times when there is a good demand ; then 
prices are higher than those named. 

The house under system No. 4 may be of the same 
construction as either Nos. 1, 2 and 3, but diffeisfrom 
them in being without any apparatus for heating. Ifc 
may, therefore, be properly termed a sun house. It is 
an improvement upon the "cold frame" long used for 
growing vegetables for early winter and spring use. By 
the old system of cold frames, only one crop of lettuce 
could be grown. The plants were set late in autumn, 
and the crop so handled as to be ready for market early 
the following spring, a month or six weeks before crops 
are produced in the open garden. But now, in sun 
houses, modern practical gardeners have a new and im- 
proved method of raising lettuce under glass without 
artificial heat. This new method, although more expen- 
sive for the first outlay and construction, has, after sev- 
eral years of experience, proved to be more certain and 
profitable in the long run than houses provided with 
artificial heat, and it is asserted, by those who have such 
houses in full operation, that, considering the difference 
in the first cost, they are more profitable than those 
equipped with the most modern heating apparatus. In 
these houses three crops of lettuce can be grown in a 
season, while with those furnished with artificial heat 
only two, often only one, additional crop can be grown 
with profit. 

Sun houses may be built on the same plan and of 
the same dimensions as any of the forcing houses de- 



112 MAKKET GARDENING. 

scribed, the only difference being that there is no method 
of heating introduced, and that the plant beds are all 
on solid earth, never on raised benches ; the only ex- 
pense over construction being the introduction of labor- 
saving methods for watering with rubber hose. This 
watering apparatus may be identical with that recom- 
mended for forcing houses. 

Before setting out lettuce, of course it will be nec- 
essary to have the soil in the beds worked up to a rich 
and mellow condition. Every practical gardener knows 
full well that this is of the utmost importance to insure 
success ; if neglected, or but half done, failure is almost 
certain to follow. To the intelligent market gardener 
this hint is superfluous, but it is a subject of primary 
importance to be impressed upon the mind of the begin- 
ner. The same preparation and proportion of soil and 
manure recommended for beds in the forcing house 
should be used for plant beds in sun houses. 

Market gardeners, as a class, are just awakening to 
the fact that there is more money to be made in working 
these sun houses than the more expensive heated houses, 
furnished with modern heating furnaces, boilers and 
pipes. Owing to this fact, a very large number of sun 
houses have been built during the last three or four 
years in the vicinity of Philadelphia. It seems, also, 
needless to say that these houses are profitable, and in 
every respect more desirable than the old-fashioned cold 
frames or boxes. Truckers, or market gardeners, operat- 
ing on the northern line of the cotton belt will, no 
doubt, find in that comparatively mild section a favora- 
ble location for sun houses, while, at the same time, 
near enough to the northern cities to be able to deliver 
their vegetables in good condition. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Oeleet. 

The best soil for celery is muck. Sandy loam is 
also very good, but requires heavy fertilizing, as celery 
is a rank feeder. A swamp, well drained and in good 
tilth, will grow strong celery. Muck soil, that will grow 
a crop of onions or potatoes, will grow a succeeding crop 
of celery the same season. On sandy loam the same 
thing can be done, with the addition of a good dressing 
of stable manure. Celery is usually grown as a second 
crop, after early peas, beets, onions, early potatoes, tur- 
nips, and sometimes cabbage ; the ground for these 
crops should always be heavily dressed the previous 
autumn with good barnyard manure. Celery plants are 
often set oat on potato ground before the potatoes are 
dug, every third row of the potatoes being omitted. 
The cultivation of the ground for potatoes is good prep- 
aration for celery. In hoeing, a trench is made at the 
place of the omitted rows, in which — about the middle — 
a double row of celery plants is set. Market gardeners 
generally confine themselves to growing one or two vari- 
eties proven to be profitable and salable, their object 
being to put on the market an article pleasing to the 
eye, tender, crisp and solid. The dwarf sorts are now 
more extensively raised than the large, for the reason 
that, in quality, they are every way as good, and require 
less field space, besides being easier to work. 

Years ago, under the laborious and expensive method 
of cultivation, celery was not a very profitable crop ; but 
within the past twenty years the acreage and profits 

113 



114 MARKET GAEDENIN'G. 

have increased, under the new and improved system of 
"flat culture," the old method of deep trenching having 
been discarded. A brief description, in way of history, 
will suffice for the old system, which enlightened gar- 
deners now never follow : 

The seed was sown in a hotbed in March, and tlie 
plants pricked out into temporary beds before final trans- 
j)lanting to give them greater strength. In June and 
July, as needed for successive crops, trenches were dug 
five feet apart, about eight to ten and fifteen inches 
wide. The soil in the bottom of each trench was thor- 
oughly and deeply mixed with manure forked in. The 
plants were set out in the deep trenches at distances of 
five to six inches apart in the row. The earthing up 
was much the same as now practiced. 

There can be no fixed date for sowing, which is now 
done in the open garden or field, the time depending 
upon the state of the season and location of the planter. 
Usually, in the latitude of Philadelphia, the ground is 
fit to receive the seed about April 1st. There need be 
no particular hurry to get it in very early, except to get 
the start of weeds and the benefit of spring showers. 
The seed germinates slowly, is one of the smallest the 
gardener uses, and the plant, at the beginning, is a frail, 
tiny little thing. Even small lumps of earth resting 
upon seeds or plants, at this stage, will certainly retard, 
if not effectually prevent, growth. For these reasons 
the preparation of the ground, previous to sowing, should 
be done in a more thorough manner than for larger 
seeds. The soil should be rich from heavy manuring 
the previous year, or from thoroughly rotted dung, 
spread over the land to the depth of about an inch. 

The work of preparation and sowing of a celery bed 
is best done at a time when all the operations will be 
completed in one day, the manure being spread and 
worked under before the sun has dried it, and the seed 



CELERY. 115 

put in while the earth is in that state of moisture imme- 
diately following plowing. It is best sown in rows, a 
quarter of an inch deep and ten inches apart, and dis- 
tributed thinly. If the weather is damp the seed should 
not be covered ; if dry, the bed should be gently patted 
with a piece of board, to solidify the soil and hasten ger- 
mination. If sown in beds broadcast, the seed should 
be mixed with dry sand in the ratio of one to five, facili- 
tating evenness of distribution. Transplant when three 
inches high. When in rows, as soon as the young plants 
appear, cultivate between the rows with a narrow garden 
rake at least twice a week, weeds or no weeds. When 
well established, the plants should be thinned to one or 
two inches, or all taken up and transplanted in rows ten 
inches apart, two inches between the plants. 

The ground, having been heavily manured in the 
spring for early crops of cabbages and other vegetables, 
still contains a large percentage of plant food, which is 
available for celery at the time of transplanting. In 
gardens in the highest state of cultivation an extra ma- 
nuring is not necessary, for, although celery is a rank 
feeder, there is generally enough fertilizing matter left 
from the preceding manuring to grow the crop. When 
the celery field is plowed and harrowed thorougly, the 
rows should be marked out ; for the large kinds five feet 
apart, for the dwarf three feet, and for that portion of 
the crop which is to be stored in trenches for winter use, 
distances are narrowed about a foot, as this celery will 
not be earthed up. 

In small fields the rows are best made by stretching 
a cord across the field. A stick is then drawn along the 
line to mark the row, or, if the ground is in nice order, 
the line may be patted v/ith a spade, the impression of 
the line being left in the soil. On large fields the mark- 
ing out is best done with a horse marker or sled. A 
marker can be made to draw three rows at a time, teeth 



116 MAEKET GAEDENTNG. 

or runners V-shaped, three feet long, twelve inches deep, 
and four or five inches wide at the rear end. The driver 
rides, and the rows, when opened, are about two inches 
deep and four inches wide. 

Before a crop of celery can be expected to grow lux- 
uriantly, the land must be prepared thoroughly. This 
previous cultivation for celery must include deep cul- 
ture. Celery roots demand plenty of room. The writer 
has walked over a celery field after potatoes, where plants 
had been set out four weeks, and, by digging down 
twelve inches, found celery roots filling all the soil. 
Get the cultivation deep ; carry the manure along and 
keep weeds out of sight, and, where possible, irrigate 
during dry seasons. 

Transplanting may be done in the latter part of 
June for early crops, but celery grown in market gardens 
as a second crop is not usually put in until the ground is 
entirely cleared of the preceding crops. The cabbages and 
other vegetables being disposed of early in July, the 
celery planting can then begin. It is not desirable to 
forward celery for marketing in the early autumn, be- 
cause there is not much demand for it until poultry 
appears in market. About the 15th of July to middle 
of August is usually, in the latitude of Philadelphia, the 
season for transplanting out in the field ; but the first 
weeks of July give best results, the plants having the 
help of July rains in their new position, while later set- 
ting must sometimes be followed by irrigation. 

The transplanting may be all done at once, or in 
two or three successive crops. In midsummer there is, 
as a rule, but little rain, while wet weather is desirable, 
for the planting can be not only better done in rainy 
weather, but the plants need the excess of moisture to 
enable them to take root during a season of heat. Every 
arrangement should, therefore, be made beforehand, so 
that a seasonable rain may be taken advantage of. In 



CELERY. ^ 117 

fact, the whole business requires, and should receiTe, 
much thought and judicious management, and all the 
operations should be conducted in a thoroughly sys- 
tematic manner. 

When transplanting time is decided upon the plants 
have to be dug with spade or trowel, and trimmed, root 
and top, before they are set out. The digging and trim- 
ming is an operation taking time, and, before planting 
begins, enough plants must be got ready to start the 
planters, and the work of trimming keep pace with the 
planting. Have ready a large pail of mud, earth and 
water, stirred to the consistency of cream ; in this dip 
the roots, using only large strong plants. Drop the 
plants in the freshly opened row, six inches apart. If 
the ground be in good friable condition, and moist, a 
quick man following a boy to drop, will set out eigh t 
thousand plants a day and do it well. One quick move- 
ment of the two hands will draw moist earth about the 
roots of a plant lying in the row, and, at the same time, 
set it upright. Another brush of the hands will cover 
this moist earth with loose, dry earth, to level the 
ground. Attention is called, at this point, to double 
rows, which are grown at less expense than two distinct 
single rows. Double row culture gives good results, as 
to the quantity of product, affording place for double 
the amount on an acre, but, of course, is never to be 
undertaken except in ground fully able in richness to 
develop such a crop. In double rows the plants are set 
six inches apart, and the two rows six inches distant 
from each other, with four feet between each set of rows. 
Thus, in an acre of 43,560 square feet, with equal sides, 
there is place for fifty-two row s_paces, and each single row 
will contain 416 plants ; a double row 833. ; 832x52= 
43,264 plants per acre, set as above described. On 
muck, two acres, the writer has known 75,000 celery 
plants grown successfully year after year. Hot south 



118 MARKET GAEDEN"IN"G. 

and west winds have to be guarded against, because, 
under their influence, moisture disappears from the soil 
as rapidly as from a burning brick kiln, and all surface- 
rooted vegetation comes to a complete standstill. To 
guard against injurious winds a tight board fence eight 
feet high can be erected with profit. The preparation 
of celery ground should always include some plan for 
providing moisture, especially if in a section of country 
where dry weather prevails in August. 

A row of tanks, each thirty-six inches wide, thirty 
inches deep and fourteen feet long stands at the head 
or most elevated portion of a profitable celery garden, 
known to the writer. The tanks are connected at the 
ends by short tin spouts. They are set on trestles, the 
first twenty inches above the ground, the second tv70 
inches lower, and so on to the last. A windwill, erected 
over a large well close by, pumps water into the highest 
tank, and, when full, it overflows into the next, and on, 
until all are full. On the side of each tank, close to the 
bottom, a one and a half inch hole is bored opposite 
each row of celery, and tight plugs inserted. When the 
celery begins to show signs of suffering, for want of 
moisture, the windmill is set to work and the tanks filled. 
At sunset the plugs are knocked out, the waters gush 
forth, striking on pieces of board, and flow down the 
celery trenches. This is repeated the following evening. 
Every third evening is passed and the harrow run 
between the rows. Irrigation is continued while the 
drouth lasts, and the celery invariably makes a splendid 
growth. 

About the 10th of September begins the handling 
of that portion of the crop intended for the early mar- 
ket. One man drawing the loose soil toward the plants 
with a hoe, another grasping the entire plant with his 
right hand, holding it straight up, the stalks close 
together, drawing the earth against it with his left, then 



CELERY. , 119 

holding the plant in his left hand, packing the earth 
around it with his right. With a little practice, this 
operation is performed very rapidly. A double shovel 
plow may be profitably run between the rows a few 
times, to loosen up the soil, which is drawn toward the 
plants as required. The finishing touch is given with 
the spade, the earth being banked clear to the top of 
the plants. 

That part of the crop intended for the winter mar- 
ket is handled the same as the other, but is earthed up 
only with the hoe, the blanching being done in the 
trenches in which it is stored for winter. In handling 
and earthing up, the main point is to keep the stalks of 
the plant so close together that no soil can get between 
them. After this ''handling" is done, the plants are 
left to grow two weeks, and are then further earthed up. 
The bank must be made broad at the base, and the side 
sloped up, so that they will not cave or slide. As the 
plants grow higher the earth is dug from the center of 
the row with a spade, and banked up against the celery. 
The celery will be blanched in about four weeks. Cel- 
ery can be successfully blanched in the field, between 
boards, by adopting the following process : Tie up the 
plants with yarn or other convenient material, and, tak- 
ing common boards twelve inches wide, place them on 
opposite sides of the row three inches apart, fasten them 
there with stout pegs driven on the outside of each 
board. The celery leaves projecting out of the top will 
exclude the light, and the stems become white and 
remain free from rust. The plan is the same as is pur- 
sued in blanching endive, sea kale and asparagus. Un- 
der this system the plants should stand close in the 
rows, say six inches, and the rows may be closer than 
where banking is practiced, say three feet. Celery 
should not be banked up while the stalks are wet with 
rain or dew. A large grower, well known to the writer, 



120 . MARKET GAEDENIIfG. 

cultivates flat into August, then banks at the rate of fiye 
thousand per man per single day's work, and once again 
early in September, then covers it from frost in the row 
or removes it to the trench or other storing place. 
This work must be well done, even if it is rapidly done, 
but practice makes light fingers. Boys must be watched, 
or, better, not employed ; as the strength of a mature 
hand is needed. After the first banking, and new stalks 
start, one will soon learn to have a few rows ripe and 
ready for market or home use every day, until cold 
weather requires the removal of the plants to the stor- 
ing place. 

Storing trenches should only be dug in dry soil, 
well under drained, or where water does not stand. 
These trenches are made the width of a spade, and as 
deep as the celery is high. Just before frost the celery 
is dug up and packed in an upright position in these 
trenches. No covering is put on until cold weather sets 
in. It will stand light frosts. Finally the trench is 
covered with hay, or other litter, the earth rounded up 
along and over the trench. In the latitude of Philadel- 
phia celery is stored away in this way, beginning the 
last of October, and finishing by November 15th. The 
first in, is first blanched ; the last keeps till February 
and March. A covering of boards over the litter will 
keep the rain off, and is to be recommended. The win- 
ter storage of celery is a matter of the deepest import- 
ance, as, if not properly done, all previous efforts go for. 
nothing. The novice will do best by trying several 
systems, and subsequently adhering to that which proves 
the best in his climate. 

Celery can be stored by burying in the row where it 
grew, by removing to trenches, to boxes in the cellar, or 
to a temporary pit specially prepared for large quanti- 
ties. The first method is often practiced with double 
rows in muck ground, and during warm winters has 



CELERY. 121 

proved quite successful. The object of any method is 
to protect from frost, and maintain plant life, for the 
celery is most healthy when it continues to grow, or, at 
least, draw moisture through its roots, till it is mar- 
keted. It is an easy matter to secure growth in good 
ground, with sunshine and wind and rain, but with the 
coming of frost the celery must be removed to close 
quarters. If buried in the row it must be where water 
will not collect, but where good drainage can be relied 
upon. With the stalks banked their entire length, a 
few leaves are left as long as possible exposed, but finally 
these are covered with straw or manure, at first lightly, 
then heavily, and then again very heavily, so as to shut 
out hard frost for a long period. This can be managed so 
as to allow the celery to be taken out for use from the 
under side in very cold weather. This method has risks ; 
one must assume them and trust each night's cold will 
not freeze the celery, or a day's warmth smother it under 
too much covering. Another way is to dig a trench one 
or two feet wide, as deep as the stalks, and on loose 
earth, scattered in the bottom, place the celery as close 
together as possible, wetting the earth about the roots. 
Begin to cover with manure, and increase with frost. 
But now the celery must be watched, every week it must 
be examined. If, after a time, leaves lose their green 
color, wet the roots without wetting the stalks, and 
watch for rust, dark brown spots, a fungus growth, 
quick to spread throughout the whole mass of plants. 
Such stalks must be immediately removed and sent to 
market; if allowed to remain they will entirely decay 
and breed disease among all the rest. Absolute protec- 
tion is claimed against fungus growth by spraying the 
celery plants with Bordeaux mixture every second day 
during four weeks preceding their storage. A method 
of winter storage, by which the risks are largely removed, 
is to provide boxes twelve inches deep, fill them half full 



122 MAEJiET GAEDENING. 

of good earth, in which set out the celery, closely 
packed, the first week of October, and carry the boxes 
into the cellar. If there be room enough the cellar can 
contain many boxes and many thousand plants. Have 
the earth moist in the boxes, and watch for the need of 
water ; get water in at the roots, a little only at a time, 
to promote growth. The stalks will stand high up 
about the sides of the boxes, and as the nights become 
cooler the cellar doors must be closed. Carefully pull 
out any dead or dying stalks, and watch for rust, also. 
In this manner celery is easily kept, and the method 
is advised for the small operator. 

The last method is that of a temporary outdoor 
cellar, built for the purpose, in or near the celery 
ground. A sort of pit or dug-out is made on dry upland, 
twenty-four feet wide, and as long as needed, each foot 
in length holding one thousand celery plants. Dig the 
sides straight down, and cover with sixteen-foot boards 
for a roof, meeting over the center. Provide fine earth 
in the bottom and set out the celery just as described 
for cellar boxes, then water the roots as may be needed. 
The structure must be made frost proof. Examine the 
whole stock every week. A storm door is required at 
the entrance, also a window with shutter to admit light. 

If the distance is short and the celery carried in 
wagons, it can be placed in barrels, the bunches resting 
on the roots, the tops upright. Some precaution against 
frost is necessary. Chests are made for packing pur- 
poses, and lined with straw. The bunches are carefully 
protected from bruising by skillful packing. 

As celery is generally a second crop, the cost is 
reduced to a minimum. It is planted and cultivated at 
a season when other things are not demanding much 
attention, and the crop fills a gap in the garden, when, 
if not grown, the land might be unprofitable. But the 
preparation for market, if time is considered, costs 



CELERY. 123 

nearly as much as the growing. Enough plants may be 
sold, in planting season, to pay for seed and summer 
cultivation— that is, in some gardens. These things 
taken into consideration, the cost is probably two hun- 
dred dollars per acre. The cost of the crop varies, 
rarely being tbe same two successive years. Manure is 
comparatively cheap, but labor is dear. 

Celery has been grown and marketed for one dollar 
and fifty cents per thousand plants, but the explanation 
must be added that only in rare instances of exceeding 
good fortune has this been done — where, from the seed 
to the selling, everything was remarkably cheap, labor 
at twenty-five to forty cents per day, by G-erman women, 
who had become, by long practice, expert at the work. 
The safer figure to give is from fifteen to twenty dollars 
per thousand, especially for amateur efforts, and, while 
writing, distant growers are offering celery ready for 
shipment at the station for sixteen dollars per thousand. 
The reader can estimate for himself how small the mar- 
gin of profit may be. For the rare instance : It is 
claimed, by one man, that he prepared, in one day, 
three muck beds, and sowed three dollars' worth of seed ; 
it gave one hundred thousand plants, from which sev- 
enty-five thousand were selected. With a boy to drop 
the plants in the row, and a woman to set them out, 
fifteen such couples, with one man to dig plants from 
the bed, will set out seventy-five thousand in muck in 
one day. This, it is claimed, has been done repeatedly. 
Banking is done at the same rate ; so that after the sec- 
ond banking the celery has cost less than seventy cents 
per thousand. A grower, who had sold seventy-five 
thousand, stated he did not think the crop had cost him 
one hundred dollars on his muck ground. 

On sandy loam the cost is much greater, and the 
yield less bulky. Heavy manuring, frequent cultivation 
and much less rapid handling of plants in such ground. 



124 MARKET GARDENIXG. 

change the figures. From some grounds the writer has 
seen celery plants, each having fifty stalks by actual 
count. Such vigorous growth takes the lead in the 
market and fills the purse, but the average celery plant 
only numbers five to eight stalks. When one has, by 
long experience, and the use of proper seed, learned to 
grow such thrifty plants, their relative cost will be 
small. To prepare a muck field from the rough swamp 
is sometimes very costly, but on such ground celery 
grows luxuriantly with a minimum of cultivation, and 
the markets of the country are most largely supplied 
from such sources. Plants have been grown for three 
cents per thousand, and have been set out for fifteen 
cents, but the average price, if one buys plants, is two 
to three dollars per thousand, and in other than muck 
ground the setting out costs as much more. The ama- 
teur must grow celery one year, at least, to learn how, 
and to find whether it can be made profitable on his 
ground and in his market. The work may be done at 
less expense than the following estimate : 

Interest on $150 @ 10%, $16. Manure, 40 loads @ $2=$80 $95.00 

Plowing, harrowing and marketing, 1 man and team 1 day 3.00 

Planting, 1 man 4 days @ $1.50=$6; cultivating, 1 man and horse 

3 days @ 2$, $6 12.00 

Hoeing twice, 1 man 3 days @ $1.50=$4.50; handling or tying, 1 

man 10 days @ $1.50=$15 19.50 

Banking, 1 man 15 days @ $1.50=$22.50; trenching, $10; water 

and watering, $6 38.50 

13,000 plants @ $5=$65 ; preparing for market, $40 105.00 

Total cost for one acre. $273.00 

In preparing for market, the outside green leaves 
should be removed, leaving none but the blanched or 
edible part, with its green tops, roots nicely trimmed off 
and washed. Pack in neat round bunches of twelve 
stalks each, tied tightly at top and bottom ; or inquire 
what is most favored in each market, and tie up in the 
acceptable form ; don't attempt to develojD many new 
ideas. For some distant markets it will pay to wrap 



0NI01*r CULTURE. 125 

each stalk separately in brown straw paper, and pack in 
boxes with slatted top. Any rusty or decayed spots on 
the celery can be quickly removed with a sharp, thin- 
bladed knife, which greatly improves its appearance. 
Prices range from twenty-five cents to two dollars per 
dozen, according to size and quality. Good celery will 
average eight cents per stalk, or, in round numbers, 
one thousand dollars per acre. Frequently the whole of 
the expense of manure can be covered by raising a spring 
crop on the ground, before planting the celery. 

As an example of profitable celery culture, it may 
be^ited that on a certain farm three hundred bushels of 
early potatoes were grown one season on two acres of 
muck ground, and brought one dollar per bushel ; five 
thousand dozen celery were eet out just before digging 
the potatoes, and became well rooted in the shade of the 
potato vines. The celery sold was shipped ia many 
directions, and retailed at eight and ten cents per bunch. 
The celery brought the grower seventeen hundred and 
fifty dollars, and the crop cost him less than one hundred 
dollars as it left his hands. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Onioi!^ Culture. 

A strong, deep, rich, loamy soil is most suitable for 
an onion crop, and where very large bulbs are desired, it 
is indispensable. :N'ew land is especially adapted for 
the growth of onions. On ground of this character they 
can be raised at less than one-half the ordinary cost, 
little or no manure being necessary, and it is usually 
nearly free from weeds. Very dry, light or sandy soil is 
unfit for this high-feeding crop. The chief reason why 



126 MAEKET GARDENING. 

SO many are not successful in raising onions, is because 
they do not attach enough importance to the selection 
of their seeds ; they start wrong, by buying cheap seed. 
This not only lessens, or loses the crop, but is a source 
of vexation, extending through the entire season. 

No previous preparation is required with virgin soil. 
If old ground is to be used, manure heavily and jjlant to 
corn ; cultivate thoroughly four or five times ; do not 
permit weeds to go to seed ; go through the field after 
the last cultivation of the corn ; cut off the weeds, carry- 
ing away all likely to ripen seed, keeping a sharp look- 
out for purslane. Cut the corn early, and plow dee]51y 
in the fall. 

As a manure for onions, well-rotted stable dung is 
the best. Artificial manures are uncertain, especially in 
dry seasons. Stable manure reserved for an onion crop, 
should be stacked up in summer, and left until autumn 
for processes of fermentation to fit the material as a 
plant food, and late in the fall it should be spread evenly, 
and twenty to twenty-five loads to the acre, and imme- 
diately plowed under. When possible, the ground should 
always be plowed in the autumn, again in the spring, 
and harrowed until the ground is thoroughly pulverized. 
No pains in tillage should be spared. 

Various growers succeed best with different varie- 
ties, as have proved best adapted to their respective soils 
and markets. Among well established varieties there 
are the YelloAV Globe Danvers, Extra Early Red, Large 
Eed Wethersfield, Eed Globe, White and Yellow Globe, 
Strasburg and Silver Skin. 

Eed Globe has the color and general quality of the 
Large Eed Wethersfield, is round, is as hardy, keeps 
well, and rivals it in weight of crop. 

Extra Early Eed is a selection from Large Eed 
Wethersfield, which, in color and form, it closely resem- 
bles. It is the earliest of all red onions, close grained, 



ONION CULTURE. 127 

mild, a good keeper, and. two or three weeks earlier 
than the Large Red. It is liable to degenerate, or revert 
to the Wethersfield, unless yery careful selections of 
bulbs are made for seed, and the experienced grower will 
only buy this from experienced and trusted dealers. 

Large Eed Wethersfield is a broad, flat onion, bulbs 
often growing to five inches in diameter, and two and 
a lialf in depth, skin purplish-red, flesh purplish- white, 
moderately fine-grained and of strong flavor. There 
are several types of Wethersfield, some early, some 
medium, others late ; the early form is best. 

Yellow Globe Dan vers, of the pure type, is inclined 
to be half globular in form, that is to say, flat on the 
bottom and round on top ; it is above medium size, skin 
yellowish-brown, growing dark by age, flesh white, 
sugary, comparatively mild and well flavored, an-d ex- 
ceedingly productive. There is a form of so called Yel- 
low Danvers known as Flat Danvers, somewhat resem- 
bling the Strasburg. 

Silver Skin produces bulbs medium in size, flattened, 
average specimens three inches in diameter, and one and 
a half to two inches thick ; neck small, skin silvery 
white, after removal of outer envelope, top of bulb often 
veined and clouded with green, while that portion below 
ground is usually clear white. Flesh white, fine grained, 
and quite mild in flavor, 

Yellow Strasburg is an old variety, still of high 
repute on account of its long keeping qualities and mild 
flavor. The bulb is somewhat larger than that of the 
Silver Skin, the flesh being equally white. It is the 
variety from which the best sets are grown. 

Among other varieties not so well known are the 
Extra Early Yellow, the earliest of that color ; Extra 
Early Pearl, the earliest white ; Autumn White Wax, a 
choice early waxy variety, Bermuda White and Red. 

Small patches of onion may be sown by hand, or 
through a long tin tube. Large breadths should be 



128 MAKKET GAEDENING. 

sown by a garden seed drill. Such can be purchased 
according to design at from five to seven dollars cash. 
There is no perfect seed-drill ; all have faults. Possibly 
the Keeler is now the best form. It is light and easy to 
run, and distributes the seed evenly. The seed is best 
drilled in straight rows, one foot apart, six pounds of 
seed being sown to the acre. One acre can be sown in 
four hours with the Keeler drill, machine, weather, land 
and man in perfect working order. The seed should 
not be buried over one-third of an inch deep, and tightly 
rolled in by the roller attached to the drill. After sow- 
ing, a wooden garden roller should be used to level and 
solidify the land. 

The best lime to drill onion seed is as soon as the 
frost is out of the ground, and the soil dry enough for 
preparation ; then set all hands to work and rush it 
through. No matter if light spring frosts are not all 
passed, don't be afraid of after-freezing, it won't hurt 
the crops. The reason for early planting is obvious, 
when it is known tlnit onion seed will germinate at a 
lower temperature than most other seeds, while weed 
seeds require a much higher temperature ; consequently, 
the onions will make their appearance ten days before 
the weeds, enabling the gardener to commence early cul- 
tivation, and thus keep weeds in check. Fall plowing 
facilitates early spring preparation, making early drill- 
ing practicable. 

Salt is sometimes broadcasted upon an onion field to 
destroy the onion maggot, and its application is believed 
to hasten the maturity of the crop. It seems to keep 
the soil from drying out. Near the sea coast seaweed 
or sea grass is used as a fertilizer for onions, maggots 
or weeds seldom injuring a salted crop. Two bushels 
of salt to the acre is sufficient, more is dangerous. 

In the cultivation four hoeings and three weedings 
are usually necessary ; the last weeding must be done 



ONION CULTURE. 129 

before the bottoms begin to form, or before the middle 
of July, as they often ''blast" if worked when forming 
bulbs, many of them failing to make bulbs, and becom- 
ing "scullions." The season for hoeing and weeding 
covers about two months. After July 30th the crop 
should be safely under way. One man can tend two 
acres, and have time to spare, but in the weeding time 
he will need a helper, as the whole field, be it large or 
small, must be cleaned within a few days, as, when 
weeding is necessary, it is always pressing. Hand hoe- 
ing and hand weeding is more eflBcient than work done 
with scufile hoes, which do not do the work thoroughly. 
Flat hoeing is all that is necessary, no effort being made 
either to draw the dirt up to the onions, or away. Purs- 
lane is the most troublesome weed, usually appearing in 
abundance at the last weeding. It must be carried off 
in baskets or sacks. The time occupied in cultivating a 
crop of onions covers from two to three months. 

In the latitude of Philadelphia harvesting is com- 
menced about August 1st, or whenever two-thirds of the 
tops fall and begin to turn yellow ; pull them by hand, 
when seasoned so that the juice cannot be squeezed from 
the neck, rake in heaps, and pull or cut the tops off. 
Place in heaps of twenty-five to thirty bushels each, on 
the field ; cover with straw or tarpaulin, so as to keep 
dry. An itemized estimate of the cost of growing an 
acre of onions may be drawn as follows : 

Use of land for twelve months $20.00 

Fertilizers applied 30.00 

Fall plowing under 2.00 

Spring preparation of ground 6.00 

Cost of seed, six pounds @ $2 12.00 

Drilling in 2.00 

Top-dressing 1 barrel salt 1.00 

Cost of cultivation until pulled 50.00 

Topping 420 bushels onions 12.00 

Hauling the same four miles 12.00 

Total cost $147.00 

Cost per bushel $ .35 

9 



130 MARKET GARDENING. 

Some onion growers have found it profitable to drill 
winter rye in September, and in March plow it down as 
a green manure, the mass of rye tops and root fibers fur- 
nishing a vast amount of plant food. Of course, after 
such a mat of green herbage is plowed under, it is abso- 
lutely necessary to roll it down hard, otherwise the cavi- 
ties would cause a drying out of the soil, and the onion 
plants would suffer more than they gained. 

There are several insects that do damage to the 
onion crop ; one, a large white grub, eating the leaf 
stalks off beneath the surface of the ground. Manure is 
the best renaedy, stimulating the plants to resist attacks. 
Another is a louse. The first indication of the presence 
of the louse is a moldy appearance of the stalks, and, 
upon examination with a glass, myriads of microscopic 
insects are revealed ; these cause a stunted growth, if 
not resulting in death. The only remedy is to change 
the location of the next year's crop. Another destruc- 
tive insect is a maggot, or small white worm, half 
to one-third of an inch long, which bores to the heart of 
the bulb in the latter part of the season. The writer 
has seen twenty in a single bulb. They are very trouble- 
some in some years, and salt is believed to be the best 
remedy. 

A fungus growth known as smut works great injury 
to the onion, and it sometimes appears on the plants 
even when but one or two inches high, and covers the 
green stems with a red and black substance, coming off 
upon workmen's shoes, implements and tools. The 
spores may thus be carried from one part of the field to 
another, or from one patch to another, and spread the 
disease, as every spore is capable of multiplying itself a 
thousand times. The only remedy for this disease is to 
change the location of the crop. All tools which have 
been used on a smutty onion field must be carefully 
washed and soaked in hot water, or they may re-establish 
thG disease the succeeding year. 



ONION CULTUKE. 



131 



DuEATiON OF Culture on the Same Land. 

Onions have been successfully raised on the same 
ground for twenty-five years in succession, but, of late 
years, the smut appears in about ten or twelve, and a 
new tract has to be taken more frequently than formerly. 

The conditions of weather have much influence 
upon the onion crop. Extremely dry weather hinders the 
growth and makes the bulbs ^small ; wet weather makes 
top, and delays ripening. The yield per acre varies with 
the cultivation, soil, and other circumstances, from 300 
to 600 or 1,000 bushels; 350 bushels is considered an 
average yield. To illustrate the crop returns on large 
fields it may be interesting to note the results of seven 
years of culture by an expert grower : 





Acres. 


Bushels. 


Amount of Sales. 




10 
10 
10 
10 
11 
11 
13 


3,081 
3,124 
3.159 
3,660 
2,890 
3,053 
2,340 


$1,059.00 


Second year 


981.00 


Third year 


894.00 




639.00 


Fifth year 


1,656.00 


Sixth year 


2,344.00 


Seveiitli year 


2,463.00 


Total, 


75 


21,307 


$10,036.00 



The last year this grower cultivated thirteen acres ; 
the aggregate yield was 2,340 bushels ; the aggregate 
receipts were 12,463. The expenses were : Land, 1130 ; 
gathering and marketing, $260 ; seed, $215 ; weeding 
1275 ; manure, $50 ; preparing land and planting, $100 ; 
total expense, $1,030; net profits, $1,433. These fig- 
ures also show an average of 284 bushels per acre, at an 
average price of forty-seven cents per bushel. Of course, 
there are records that far exceed this ; for instance, last 
year, one and one-half acres, in one case, yielded 600 
bushels, and brought $780, which must have given over 
$400 per acre net profit. The records above given show 
the result of a series of years where onions have been 
made a specialty. The example being taken of a man 
who began in poverty twenty-four years ago, to-day 



132 MAKKET GARDEiflNG. 

worth twenty-thousand dollars ; but right here the 
reader must remember that at least sixty per cent, of his 
expenses came back in the shape of the earnings of him- 
self and family. 

Storing and Keeping Onions. 

Half the secret of keeping onions well, is in housing 
them in a perfectly dry, sound condition. If they are 
to be disposed of before cold weather, they can be kept 
in any dry place where they can have plenty of air, the 
best place being on a loose floor, where the air can pass 
up through them. 

Onions, to be preserved through winter, should be 
kept at a low temperature ; if kept from actual freezing 
there is no danger of the temperature being too low ; they 
should be kept dry, but if, by any chance, they get 
frozen, they should not be handled, mei'ely covered and 
kept in the dark till the frost gradually leaves them. 
It is not the freezing which does the mischief, but mov- 
ing them when frozen, and repeated thawing and with- 
drawing of frost. Wherever the essential conditions 
prevail of uniform low dry temperature, absence of light, 
and not too severe frost, they may be safely stored for 
winter. Above all things, moisture and heating in balk 
should be guarded against. If these conditions are to 
be obtained in a cellar or a room above ground it may be 
used for winter storing. To avoid gatherijig moisture 
and heating, the bulbs should not be over two feet deep, 
better less. If too warm they grow and rot. 

If they are to be kept through the winter, store 
them in a building with tight floors, tinder which the 
frost cannot get. On such a floor place scantling, upon 
which lay narrow boards, half an inch apart. Upon 
this drying floor build up a false partition one foot within 
the outside walls. Arranged in this way, they have a 
free circulation of air all around and under them. 



ONIOK CULTUEE. 133 

When the temperature sinks to 30° it is well to fill in 
the space with straw, to stop the circulation of the coU 
air. They can he put in bins of tiiis structure, from 
two to three feet deep. It is well to cover them over 
with hay or cornstalks sufficiently to protect them. If 
they should freeze, allow them to remain covered until 
completely thawed. Always handle them as carefully 
as apples, as even slight bruises cause them to mold 
or rot. 

If there be no convenient structure suitable for the 
winter storage of onions in large quantity, one may be 
erected somewhat after the following plan : If to store 
twenty-five hundred bushels, erect a building twenty by 
thirty feet, with sixteen foot posts. It should stand the 
longest way north and south, with doors twelve feet 
wide, and high at each end. It should stand one foot 
from the ground, to admit of free circulation beneath, 
and be sided with matched boards lined with tarred 
paper. The floor should be of two-inch plank laid loose, 
and well supported. On this floor place blocks five feet 
apart, about five inches square, and twenty inches high ; 
cover the floor with onions to the top of the blocks ; 
place on these blocks timbers as large as three by four, 
and on these narrow boards for flooring one inch apart. 
On this floor place blocks, the same as before ; fill in 
with onions, and so on as high as coiivenient. The 
blocks should be placed exactly over each other, as there 
will be a great weight on the lower boards. During the 
fall, when the weather is dry, open the doors at each 
end ; this will give the air free circulation through them. 
They will bear the temperature down to twenty-five 
without injury. On the approach of cold weather, bank 
up the sides of the building to keep the frost from get- 
ting under. On warm, clear days, open the south doors. 
"When it is desired to take out the onions commence at 
the south doors, by taking out the floor boards, and let 



134 MARKET GARDENING. 

them roll down to the first floor, for topping. If they 
get frozen they will generally come out sound, if left 
undisturbed till the frost is out. 

The vitality of onion seed should always be carefully 
and thoroughly tested before sowing. The best way is 
to count out two or three samples of one hundred seeds 
each, and each separate sample place between two layers 
of cotton batting, resting on saucers, each containing a 
quarter inch of water. Put in a warm place, and keep 
water at same level. The seeds will sprout in a few days. 
Find the general average of percentage that will develop 
shoots of half an inch in length, and plant accordingly, 
assuming eighty-five per cent, a standard of highest vital- 
ity. If, with seed of eighty-five per cent, vitality, six 
pounds is proper to sow an acre, then with seed of only 
sixty per cent, vitality, nine pounds should be sown. 

Be not deluded into the purchase of cheap seed, 
such is always questionable, always suspicious. In the 
first place, it may not grow at all, or not over fifty or 
sixty per cent. ; and, secondly, and more damaging to 
the planter, it may be from common mixed stock, or 
prove late and staggy. This the grower only discovers 
after a loss of a season and expensive labor. 



CHAPTEE XX. 

MUSHEOOM OULTIJRE. 

Before considering the subject of mushroom culture, 
it may be well to make some reference to this edible 
fungus, a genus much larger and more important as a 
food than generally supposed. 

Dr. Badham, an English authority upon fungi, 
states that hundreds of tons of rich, wholesome food 
go to waste daily in England, because of ignorance 
and superstition. 

In England there are, at least, forty species of edi- 
ble mushrooms, and in the United States many hun- 
dreds. In the State of North Carolina alone, there are 
one hundred and twenty species of fungi, many of them 
obtainable over a season of nine months. Mountain and 
plain, valley and forest, are swarming with a profusion of 
nutritious food going to decay because of the ignorance 
of the public. 

Thd soil for earth fungi and the wood for forest 
fungi, however, has much to do with flavor, as occasion- 
ally a most excellent variety proves to be unpalatable, 
and even offensive. Of forest or tree fungi, those grow- 
ing on the mulberry and on the hickory are generally of 
the best flavor. Dr. Curtis, of South Carolina, is, per- 
haps, among Americans, the most venturesome in tast- 
ing wild fungi — beginning with a single mouthful, the 
next day two or three mouthfuls, and the next a full 
meal. -It takes a braver man than he who first swallowed 
an oyster to make experiments like this for the benefit 
of botanical science. Though sick stomachs and some 

135 



136 MARKET GARDEKTNG. 

inflammation have frequently resulted from eating poison- 
oas or unwholesome mushrooms^ it is rare to hear of an 
authenticated record of death from such causes. Mush- 
rooms, which are safe with some persons, often disagree 
with others; indeed, it seems the stomach maybe edu- 
cated to bear most noxious species, as there are records 
of highly poisonous varieties being eaten with impunity 
by mushroom tasters. 

As before remarked, soil and circumstances cause 
fungi to assume different properties, and the novice, 
when uncertain as to the merit of an unrecognized 
species, will find it a good plan to try the new sort 
with great caution. In no garden process is there 
such contradictory practice as in mushroom culture, 
and, while generally considered a subject requiring much 
experience and skill, the diversified system of cultivation 
would seem to point to simplicity in the requirements. 
For instance, one successful grower will gather dry drop- 
pings from horses, and still further dry them, by spread- 
ing and frequent turning under cover. Another, equally 
successful as a grower, dispenses with all this trouble, 
taking stable dung fresh from the stalls, and mixing in 
a fourth part of good friable loam, piling it up for a 
week, then turning it over, and, if fermenting too strongly, 
adding more loam. This mixture, made into beds, is 
immediately charged with spawn. 

A third grower takes his manure from an ordinary 
barnyard pile, and mixes in a fourth part of loam. 
Other growers will not use manure which has been fer- 
menting, claiming that it will not produce mushrooms 
or a continuous crop. Another system is to take any 
good stable manure, and, removing sticks, stones, very 
long straw, or other coarse material, thoroughly mix 
and pile it in beds two feet high, thoroughly wet with 
water and stamp down. After a week or ten days, by 
which time it is quite hot, the pile is re-worked and left 



MUSHROOM CULTUKE. 137 

for -another ten days, then it is in condition to be made 
into beds of the proper form and seeded. Sometimes 
four to six weeks are taken in the preparation of the 
manure, a leading object with most cultivators being to 
have it half decomposed, completely mixed, but not wet. 

Mushroom Beds. — Possibly the best system for 
the amateur to pursue is to prepare his manure pile 
under cover, as in a shed or cellar, making his pile one- 
fourth loam and three-fourths of the best stable manure 
he can get, horse dung predominating, which should be 
piled first, to allow it to lose its fiercest heat, the loam 
helping to solidify the mixture. At spawning time the 
heat in the beds should range from sixty to eighty 
degrees, never above eighty-five. The heat of a bed 
may be reduced by opening holes with a crowbar, forc- 
ing it down to the very bottom. Of course the heat can 
be taken with a thermometer. 

Spawn, as sold, may be looked upon as the seed used 
by mushroom growers, though it is a compounded article. 
That part of the mushroom appearing above ground, the 
part eaten and best known to the public, is what may be 
termed the fiower and flower stem, the spores, or true 
seed, being produced upon the gills of the flower, which, 
under natural conditions, falling to the ground, germin- 
ate, and produce a fine underground mat of filaments. 
This underground growth being the true and perfect 
plant, the edible portion, as previously remarked, being 
the flower, or seed-bearing stem. It is not necessary 
here to describe how the spawn is made commercially, 
except to say that the English spawn comes in the form 
of light, dry, brittle bricks, while the French comes in 
the form of light flakes, resembling half-dried, stable 
manure. 

In seeding a bed with English spawn, one bushel 
should sufl&ce for an area of one hundred square feet of 
surface, the bricks being broken into pieces the size 



138 MARKET GARDENING. 

of a walnut, and placed as hereinafter directed. The 
English spawn is the most reliable when the work is 
performed by amateurs. With the French spawn the 
flakes about the size of a silver dollar should be inserted 
edgeways into the beds, the outer edge just covered from 
sight. The operation of spawning is a very important 
one, the aim being to secure a uniform development of 
spawn filaments throughout the bed. When this growth 
of white fiber fails to appear after three weeks' time, the 
bed should be broken up and remade with an addition 
of one-third unfermented dung to give it heat again. 
Any good loamy soil is suitable for covering the beds 
after the spawn has started to grow. In Paris the 
beds are generally covered with two inches of white lime- 
stone soil, not through choice, but through convenience, 
and it does as well as anything else. 

Location of Mushroom Beds. — Mushrooms may 
be grown in greenhouses any month of the year, and in 
graperies, pits, sheds, cellars and stables from April to 
October. They may also be grown on shelves or on the 
floor of any of these places. A novice in mushroom cul- 
ture may, with little trouble and comparatively no ex- 
pense, try his apprentice hand at cultivation in half bar- 
rels kept in a dark shed or cellar, and we would advise 
the following course for such a trial : Procure an empty 
whiskey or vinegar barrel with a firm head and bottom, 
and saw it in half. Pick out the best quality of unfer- 
mented stable manure obtainable, and thoroughly mix 
with one-fourth part good friable loam, pile the mass 
compactly, and tramp down and cover with ordinary 
stable manure for a blanket. At the end of a week 
remove the covering and turn the mixture, pile it up 
again and blanket for two or three days, then half fill 
the tubs or barrels with the manure. Upon the top 
surface lay pieces of spawn the size of a walnut at inter- 
vals of three inches apart, and add sufficient of the 



MUSHKOOM CULT17RE. 139 

manure mixture to build up a cone-shaped elevation of 
twelve or fifteen inches. In ten days the spavi^n should 
have sprouted and filled the whole mass of manure with 
white thread-like filaments. When these are seen run- 
ning through the entire pile, cover it with two inches of 
fine loam, through which the mushroom buttons will 
develop, and from which the cultivator should be able 
to get a fair supply covering a period of from two to 
four weeks. 

Mushrooms in the Garden. — Near London and 
Paris considerable quantities of mushrooms are grown in 
the open garden. In London ordinary manure is used, 
and before it has time to heat is made into long narrow 
beds. When the temperature reaches eighty degrees it 
is seeded with spawn, covered with two inches of any 
good soil, and blanketed with mats or tarpaulins. In 
Paris, the outdoor cultivator generally lets the manure 
ferment, and after frequent and thorough working, 
makes beds thirty inches wide and two feet in height, 
which he covers with mats. 

When the temperature falls to eighty degrees he 
spawns the bed, inserting pieces of spawn the size of a 
walnut, placing it in three lines, one near the bottom 
edge of the bed, the second ten inches up along the side, 
and the third ten inches above the second. He next 
covers with mats or cloth. After ten days, if the spawn 
has started, he covers Avith two inches of soil. 

The writer had the pleasure, a few years ago, of vis- 
iting the mushroom caves of Paris, the extent of such 
cultivation being measured by the daily product of four 
tons of buttons. The work is done in the underground 
caverns and galleries of the old limestone quarries, from 
which was taken the stone to build the city. 

The manure is mixed upon the surface, lowered 
in large buckets, and in the same manner returned to 
the surface for remaking. Of course, all the work has 



140 MARKET GAEDEN'IIS'G. 

to be done by candle light, and, being done in narrow 
passages, the oiaeration covers many miles ; the beds of 
one French cultivator, if placed in single line, would 
reach about twenty-six miles. The beds rest npon the 
rock bottoms of the galleries, and are built in the form 
of a ridge, two to three feet wide and two feet high. 
The limestone formation beneath Paris seems to be more 
especially adapted to mushroom culture than the rock 
formation in many other districts, coal and iron, in the 
rock soil, for instance, preventing the best growth of 
the mushroom. 



CHAPTEK XXI. 
EooTS FOR Stock Feedin^g. 

This chapter is written in the hope of diffusing 
information inducive to greater attention to a most val- 
uable adjunct in husbandry, and, if more widely re- 
garded, calculated to increase, not only the quantity, 
but the quality, of our food ; the tender, luscious mut- 
ton of the English, being attributable not alone to their 
cooler climate, bat to the turnip, and, we may add, other 
succulent roots on which the sheep are fed and fattened 
for the butcher. 

The value of succulent food, in a hygienic or san- 
itary view, to man, and also to the animals which min- 
ister to his wants, need not be commented on. All who 
have paid attention to the subject agree in opinion as to 
its advantage, indeed, its absolute necessity, if the preser- 
vation of health be properly studied. The long winters 
of our country, which arrest vegetation, and oblige us 
to provide green food to be stored up in anticipation of 
the severe season^ have necessarily induced inquiry and 



ROOTS FOR STOCK FEEDING. 141 

examination as to the class of vegetables which can be 
produced in greatest abundance, at least cost, with least 
exertion in the shortest space of time, and with least 
liability to failure of the crop under unfavorable atmos- 
pheric conditions, and also as of primary importance, 
with capability for preservation during winter months 
with slight danger of decay. 

In Great Britain the culture of roots, round tur- 
nip, ruta baga and mangold has assumed gigantic im- 
portance, and it was estimated by writers on political 
economy, years ago, when the turnip product was much 
below the present, that its annual value was much more 
than the equivalent of the sum represented by the interest 
on the National debt, no inconsiderable amount, as 
everybody knows. Until the culture of roots, as they 
are termed, was extended and enlarged, in England, 
animal food was a luxury seldom within the reach of the 
operative classes, with whom vegetables and farinaceous 
compounds, not always of the best quality, were the 
main sources of sustenance. Now English fattened 
meats, even of American origin, are, in some shape, 
within reach of all, the factory operative, the mechanic, 
the tradesman and the landholder alike participating; 
and this change has grown out of, not so much national 
prosperity or increased wages, though both are indirectly 
affected, but the greater breadth of land in root culture. 

American corn, with us the great meat producer, 
which has played so important a part in the development 
of our country, enabling the hardy emigrant from the 
older settlements to wrest the wilderness from the sav- 
age, and overcome the forest, is not grown in Great 
Britain or any portion of the north of Europe, there 
being known only as an import from our country. In 
this particular, Americans have an advantage impossible 
to estimate ; but, great as it is, it should not lessen our 
exertion to produce succulent food, which augments the 
value of the farinaceous. 



142 MARKET GARDENIJSG. 

The principal succulent and saccharine roots, besides 
tlie turnip, raised for cattle feeding, are, it is almost 
unnecessary to observe, mainly com]3rised by the tribes 
of beets, carrots and parsinj)s. There are some others, 
but they are hardly of sufficient importance to occupy 
space in limited pages. 

In this country the turnip and the ruta baga, or 
''Swede," as it is familiarly called, is more generally cul- 
tivated for stock-food than any other root — not that it 
is the best, but because it can be so readily grown, and 
at small cost. While beets, mangold, carrots, kohl rabbi 
and parsnip demand an entire season to mature, the 
turnip is of so quick growth in our climate, that within 
a few weeks only after sowing abundant supplies may 
be in hand. 

The writer cannot, however, but maintain that, 
though at some increase of labor in the production, no 
expenditure on the farm may, in the long run, pay bet- 
ter than an annual crop of mangolds and carrots, even if 
raised only in sufficient quantity to alt-ernate with the 
ruta baga, and thus the food be varied ; a change which 
the milch cow, the stall-fed ox and the sheep crave 
equally with man. At the present time, when foreign 
demand for American beef and mutton has assumed 
gigantic proportions, the subject of stocJc feeding pre- 
sents itself with increased force. 

The subject is one which concerns the Union ; our 
prosperity cannot advance faster than our progress in 
agriculture, whether as planters, grain producers, stock- 
breeders or dairymen. When they prosper all industries 
participate. The railroads, the mills, the forges, the 
shipping, find profitable employment, all are subordinate 
to the farmer's industry. 

The Turnip. — That turnips, singly and alone, 
will secure health and strength and rich milk, the writer 
is far from maintaining ; but he does contend that, in 



EOOTS FOB STOCK FEEDING. 143 

proper proportioi], in suitable condition, at proper times, 
mixed with corn meal, shorts, oil cake, or other rich 
food, they will produce valuable results. To feed roots 
of any kind in imprudently cold stables, or, as may 
sometimes be seen, in the open air in inclement weather, 
the roots, perhaps, partially frozen, and expect favorable 
results, argues, to say the least, want of reflection ; and 
where we find people say, as we sometimes do, they 
*'can see no good in roots," we are sure to find, on 
inquiry, that some of the obviously rational and neces- 
sary rules of procedure in feeding have been disregarded. 
The experience of such people should never be taken as 
safe guides ; but rather let us pin our faith on the sys- 
tematic and successful, who use the right means to the 
right end. One such practical, observing, methodic 
man in a neighborhood, is worth a dozen who make no 
progress. 

The writer should here refer to the value of turnips 
in another view, as a vegetable manure ; most valuable 
will they be found for plowing under after the first 
killing frost of autumn. Sown thickly broadcast in 
August or September and allowed to cover the ground, 
they gather from eai'tli and air a mass of fertilizing 
agents which will, the succeeding spring, astonish the 
experimenter. 

Nothing we know of is so efiicient, considering the 
small cost of time and money. Seventy to eighty days 
will make the crop, and at a cost not exceeding three 
dollars per acre. The preparation of the soil and cli- 
matic adaptation of the locality is an important pre- 
requisite to success, both as respects the productiveness 
of the crop, and its cost, for it is manifest that, however 
valuable and desirable may be any object we seek, the 
cost of obtaining it may be disproportionate to its value ; 
such is especially the case with all products of the soil. 



144 market gardeki'ntg. 

Time of Sowing Tuekips. 

In the latitude of Philadelphia farmers bes^m to 
think of sowing ruta bagas about the 1st of July, and, 
if everything is in readiness, complete their sowing by 
the middle of the month. Their process is as follows : 
Plow the land level, harrow crosswise and lengthwise, 
getting it into fine tilth, then with the plow draw shal- 
low furrows two and one-half feet apart ; in these furrows 
the manure is spread ; it may consist of any fertiUzing 
material within reach. Of course, decomposed matter 
is the best, whether it be vegetable or animal ; and here, 
we remark, it is a good plan to prepare, in advance, a 
compost which will readily disintegrate when spread. 
Where such is not at hand, any of the approved com- 
mercial fertilizers may be resorted to, but buy only from 
parties of good repute. When the fertilizer, if a super- 
phosphate (or other commercial manure at about equal 
cost), at the rate of five hundred pounds per acre, has 
been spread, it is a good practice to remove the hind 
teeth from an ordinary cultivator, so as to adapt it to 
the width of the furrow, and pass it over the fertilizer, 
thus incorporating it with the soil. That done, the soil, 
divided in forming the furrows, is returned by splitting 
the ridges. This process will be found to form a ridge 
over the fertilizer some inches higher than the level of 
the general surface. As that is not desirable in our cli- 
mate, where heat and drouth prevail, rather than excess 
of moisture, as in England, from whence the practice of 
ridging is derived, back down the ridges until they are 
nearly level, which brings the seed, w^hen sown, near the 
manure, so important to stimulate the young plants. 

Manner of Sowing Turnips. 

Everything being now ready for sowing, with an 
approved drill, and the writer recommends the Keeler, 
sow the seed, and follow with a light roller if drouth 



BOOTS FOJR STOCK FEEDING. 145 

prevail. The drill should be adjusted to sow not less 
than three pounds of seed per acre if in rows, two and 
one-half feet apart, — not that so much seed is necessary, 
if any considerable percentage vegetates and escapes the 
fly, the scorching sun, and other unfavorable influences. 
It is probable that, if eight ounces of seed could be 
evenly distributed, each grain germinate, and finally 
produce a healthy plant, there would be a sufficient 
number of plants to the acre ; but it would be a very 
unwise procedure to stint the seed to save, for the present 
moment only, the pocket. The English, to whom we 
look for instruction in root culture, use seven to eight 
pounds per acre, but the turnip has been so generally 
grown in their country for generations, that the fly, fed 
and pampered, has become a most formidable pest ; so 
much so that great difficulty is sometimes found in 
securing a "stand," 

The Turnip Fly.— The "turnip fly" just referred 
to is a jumping beetle, of greenish-black color, and 
about the tenth of an inch in length, sometimes so 
destructive as to devour every plant before the farmer is 
aware that the seed has sprouted. This active little 
insect hibernates in protected places, and from early 
spring to autumn produces a rapid succession of genera- 
tions. The mature insects apparently reveling upon the 
marrow-like material of the cotyledons and first two or 
three pairs of leaves of the turnip and other cruciferous 
plants, deposit eggs upon the leaves, which, in a few 
days, suffer as much from the attack of the unseen larvae 
as from the parent. 

The remedies, which are only palliative, are thick 
seeding, dashing with sulphur or plaster, light applica- 
tions of carbolic or whale oil soap, etc., and when all 
have failed or about to fail, re-sowing in fresh ground. 
A wet season is prejudicial to the rapid growth of the 
fly, and, with a rich soil, the young plants soon acquire 
10 



146 MARKET GARDEN^WG. 

the third pair of leaves, which, with those succeeding, 
are proof against further injury. 

If the sowing just described should, by the ravages 
of the fly or other accident, have failed, pass along the 
ridges with a spike-tooth harrow, to destroy any weeds 
which may have sprouted, and re-sow, as before. If, 
from the time lost, it may be deemed too late to perfect 
a crop of ruta bagas with certainty, it may be better to 
make the re-sowing with round or flat turnips, which 
mature in a shorter season. Supposing the sowing a 
success, allow the plants to reach the rough, or second 
leaf, then proceed thus : Taking a light steel hoe in 
hand, and standing so as to bring a corner of the hoe in 
an oblique direction with respect to the line of plants, 
and near to them, the operator walks backward, drawing 
the hoe gently, and lightly skimming the surface of the 
soil, and with it all young weeds which may have sprung 
up contemporary with the crop ; returning, the opjDOsite 
side of the row, or drill, is taken, thus leaving only a 
narrow line of turnip plants, nearly free from weeds. 

Thinning Out. — After a few days, when they have 
grown somewhat stronger, and are too rank for the fly 
to injure seriously, they may be "clumped," which is 
performed by taking a sharp, light, steel hoe of suitable 
size, say three inches wide, and, standing facing the row, 
cut crosswise, so as to leave clumps of plants at intervals 
of five inches. At first the operator will cut timidly, 
fearing to destroy too many ; but in a little while he 
will have gained courage, and proceed with increasing 
speed. It is surprising with what celerity such work 
may be performed by an expert, which any one may be- 
come with an hour's practice. When the plants left in 
clumps have fully recovered from the disturbance, which 
is unavoidable, and again stand erect, the process of 
''singling" commences ; this is simply pulling out with 
the finger and thumb and casting aside all but the most 



ROOTS FCR STOCK FEEDING. 147 

promising plant in each group or clump. After the 
lapse of a few days, when the selected plants have be- 
come upright and self-sustaining, a very shallow furrow 
may be cast from each side, the earth thus removed 
meeting in a ridge between the rows. If the weather is 
damp they may stand thus a few days, each day adding 
greatly to their strength ; but if the weather be hot and 
dry, it is better to proceed at once with the hoeing, 
which done, the ridge of earth is to be leveled down by 
a spike-tooth harrow, or, in its absence, a cultivator 
with well-worn teeth, taking care not to cast the earth 
upon the young plants. This process of plowing from 
the plants, and cultivating immediately after to return 
the soil, will need to be repeated several times during 
the season of growth ; indeed, it may be practiced with 
great advantage, so long as the space between the rows 
is not obstructed by foliage, on each repetition inserting 
the plow deeper than before. Thus the crop will at 
length stand daily increasing in vigor and bulk, until 
the time arrives for placing it in winter quarters, in the 
latitude of Philadelphia not later than the 30th of 
November. 

Method op Savin"g for Winter Feeding. 

The English, who are our instructors in this branch 
of husbandry, and have taught us most of what we know 
on the subject, have some advantage in climate over 
Pennsylvania, though not over the South, which admits 
of feeding the bulbs as they stand in the ground, as well 
as under cover, the stock, especially sheep, being grazed 
upon them, using hurdles to confine the flock to a lim- 
ited space. A flock destined for the butcher are first 
turned in, where they may feed upon the better portion, 
then moved into a fresh inclosure, thus exciting the 
appetite. These are succeeded by a store flock, which 
picks up the fragments, so that nothing is lost. This 



148 MAEKET GARDENIN^G. 

process corresponds with that of some of our prairie 
farmers, who turn their beef cattle into the standing 
corn (a bad practice on the Atlantic coast), and follow 
by hogs, which find every half digested grain passed 
through the cattle, and fatten sooner than on dry coru. 
In America, where a live-acre patch of ruta bagas 
cannot be found within some of the counties, to say 
nothing of States, the statement may excite surprise that 
a hundred acres in that root on the lands of a single far- 
mer of Great Britain is by no means unusual; and 
recently the writer entertained an English farmer and 
stock-breeder, making a tour in this country, who, him- 
self, cultivated two hundred and fifty acres in roots 
annually. 

Harvesting Turtstips. 

Of course, such large breadths demand every me- 
chanical device and appliance for saving the crop, and 
instead of, as with us, each root destined to be stored 
being pulled up singly by the hand and cast into a heap, 
then again taken in hand and topped, again cast into a 
heap preparatory to being hauled away, they, on the 
contrary, top with a hoe. A light, sharp steel hoe is 
held perpendicularly in hand, and, with a quick action, 
drawn horizontally, thus decapitating each root in suc- 
cession as it stands in the ground. This done, they are 
drawn out and into windrows by a chain-harrow. It 
can be readily seen with what celerity this labor may be 
performed, and the great saving in cost. With our 
small patches we can get along, however, by the old 
time-honored practice ; with increasing breadths of land 
in roots will come improved methods. Some growers 
have already adopted new systems ; instead of topping 
all the roots of the crop, they haul a portion, just as 
pulled up, top and root, to a convenient position near 
the stables, place them in a narrow, ridge-like form, and 



BOOTS FOE STOCK FEEDING. 149 

cover with straw, corn-fodder, or any light, trashy ma- 
terial which may be at hand. Thus they are preserved 
until New Year, or longer, using from one end, and 
covering up after each removal. The writer has pursued 
this plan for many years. It is true, in warm, damp 
weather, the tops partially decay, and become somewhat 
slimy, but the roots do not take harm, and cattle feed 
on them, and the tops, also, with much avidity. Per- 
haps a little salt sprinkled on each mess would be an 
advantage. For milch cows it is recommended to give 
salt when feeding turnips, and the better time is imme- 
diately after milking. 

Pitting Turnips. — The main winter and spring 
stock of roots are preserved in pits, not mounds, as 
made in some localities, narrow pits, after this fashion : 
Select a suitable spot, near the stables if practicable, but 
surely where the drainage is good, an indispensable pre- 
requisite ; dig a trench sixteen inches wide, and as many 
or more inches in depth, the length as convenient or 
necessary. In this deposit the topped roots, and cover 
with the earth dug out of the trench, using a little more 
in addition as winter approaches. If cold may be ex- 
pected in severity, place over all long stable manure, or 
anything which will impede the entry of frost without 
creating warmth. Thus the writer has found roots of 
all descriptions— ruta bagas, common turnips, carrots, 
beets, parsnips— to keep well. They are accessible at all 
times, and may be removed in larger or smaller quantity, 
as needed or desired. Altogether, it is better than 
mounds, which, being elevated, are exposed to frost, 
and require care in construction. In the pits described 
the writer annually keeps beets and carrots far into the 
spring, indeed, he has fed working oxen with beets, to 
their great delight, up to July 1st. 

From what has been said, it may be seen that theory 
and practice should go hand in hand ; the writer is sim- 



150 MAKKET GARDElsING. 

ply describing his own operations at Bloomsdale, not 
telling what may possibly be done, and satisfied with 
the utility of his practice, confidently recommends it 
to others. 

On the Varieties of Turnips. 

In England turnips are divided into two distinct 
classes, those designed for stock feeding, and those for 
table use. They are also divided into rough-leaved and 
smooth-leaved. The smooth-leaved embrace those of 
which the ruta baga, or ''Swede," is the type, and of 
which the purple-topped, yellow-fleshed variety may be 
taken as the best representative. The rough-leaved 
sorts are generally white-skinned and white-fleshed, some 
purely white, others with green or purple crowns ; 
though there are also several rough-leaved varieties with 
yellow flesh. These rough-leaved sorts are again sub- 
divided into cattle and table turnips ; in the usually 
limited culture in this country such distinction is of 
little consequence. The leading varieties for cattle feed- 
ing are here described in the order of their maturity. 

Large Early Red-Top Globe. — A variety of 
white turnip of comparatively recent introduction, of 
large size, and rapid growth, unusually attractive, ap- 
proved and admired by all. It is recommended mainly 
as a valuable acquisition for feeding cattle. 

Pomeranian White Globe. — This is a free grow- 
ing rough-leaved sort, useful for both table and stock, 
and may be highly commended for both purposes. Tur- 
nip cultivators need not hesitate to sow it, whether for 
stock, market or family use ; it is not quite so rapid in 
growth as the flat varieties, may be expected to come in 
as a succession in autumn, and is admirable for table 
use in early winter. In short, the ''Pomeranian Globe" 
is eminently valuable, and supplies every want of a 
white-skinned variety. This is used by stock-breeders 



EOOTS FQR STOCK FEEDING. 151 

for early feeding, also for sowing at seasons too late to 
secure a crop of rata bagas. It is productive, hardy, 
and eclipses the ''White Stone." 

White Norfolk Globe. — A very desirable variety, 
rapid in growth, globular in form, large, and an admir- 
able keeper, recommended especially for stock feeding. 

Amber Globe. — Is an Americanized foreign tur- 
nip, almost indispensable on eyery farm. The flesh, 
when the turnip is growing, has a very slight tinge of 
yellow, which becomes darker as the root matures ; it is 
as solid as a ruta baga, and, if topped yery closely, so as 
to effectually arrest sprouting, it may be kept until late 
in spring as good as when first gathered. The flayor is 
milder than that of the ruta baga, therefore by some 
highly esteemed for table purposes. On the whole, this 
is the best type of the yellow, rough-leayed sorts, and 
fills eyery want in that direction. The foliage of this 
yariety is strap-leaved. 

Yellow Aberdeen, or Yellow Scotch. — It is a 
highly approved cattle turnip, attains a large size, is 
solid, nutritious, a good keeper, and is, in eyery respect, 
reliable. There are several types under distinctive 
names, without much yariation in quality. Full justice 
to this yariety has not been done. Observations and 
experiments with the Aberdeen, raised from seed pro- 
duced from American bulbs, clearly shows that it is a 
yariety of highest merit. It is well-adapted to cattle- 
feeding, and for table use also, late in winter and far 
into the spring, when the earlier ripening yarieties haye 
grown pithy. 

A friend exhibited, at mid-winter, a sample of but- 
ter made by him, which he assured us was the result of 
Aberdeen turnips and com fodder only, no grain or oil 
food whatever having been fed. The butter was of a 
deep lemon tint, sweet, well-flavored, and would haye 
commanded, at that time, eighty to ninety cents per 



152 MAKKET GARDEKIKG. 

pound in the Philadelpliia market; we must not, how- 
ever, fail to add, his stock was the Guernsey. His 
method was to feed the roots, well salted, immediately 
after milking, as many as each animal felt disposed to 
eat. Thus treated, there was no turnip flavor percepti- 
ble, either in the milk or butter. 

The Swede, or ruta baga is, perhaps, the most impor- 
tant root cultivated for stock food ; its rapid maturity, 
large bulk to a given area, nutritious quality and sani- 
tary properties commend it as eminently worthy of cul- 
ture. It has become a practice, in the sale of ruta baga 
seed, to create varieties ; some actual, some fictitious, 
but it is best not to be misled by new names. 

The Bloomsdale Swede is the result of long 
years of patient, critical selection, and, on comparison 
carefully made with intent to determine and secure the 
best, it was proved to be unquestionably the most desir- 
able. The foliage is not super-abundant (as in the 
imported), the shape is nearly globular, the crown deep 
purple, the flesh a rich yellow. 

Beets for Cattle. 

Under this head American farmers embrace all beets 
with certain characteristics, whether they be for stock- 
feeding or sugar-making. What principally interests at 
present is the question, which is best for stock food ; as 
preliminary to further remarks on beet culture, the first 
question to be solved by every farmer is as to his com- 
mand of necessary force to accomplish, with reasonable 
prospect of success, what he may desire, and whether he 
can devote a full season's attention to the crop, or can 
more profitably use the time in other directions, relying 
on a crop of ruta baga and other turnips for succulent 
food, which, though not as nutritious, may be raised at 
less cost of time and labor. 

It is emphatically with root culture as it is in all 
other operations on the farm, a simple question of dol- 



ROOTS FOR STOCK FEEDING. 153 

lars and cents, and if food less nutritious may be obtained 
in quantity to compensate for deficiency in quality, the 
inferior may be preferable, Euta bagas. Judged by that 
rule, may be most profitable. Each one must decide 
the question for himself. Where circumstances admit 
there need be no doubt, the greater advantage will be 
found in possessing both, as affording variations of diet. 

Varieties of the Beet. 

Long Blood Red. — This is a valuable winter 
table beet, and has been brought to its present state of 
perfection by successive yearly selections. It is prefer- 
able to the Eochester, or Eadish beet, which grows above 
the surface and is liable to be fibrous. It is held to be 
as rich in saccharine as either the sugar or the mangels, 
with the further highly important advantage from its 
habit of growth, which all who, as husbandmen study 
our climate, can readily perceive, namely, of withstand- 
ing drouth. In our climate excessive heat, accompanied 
by prolonged drouth, is a usual accompaniment of our 
summers, and all who have cultivated either the mangels 
or sugar beets have observed the entire suspension of 
growth at such periods, the foliage drooping, frequently 
falling entirely, and followed by an elongated crown or 
a growth of woody, or, at least, fibrous matter. This 
substance is of little, if any, value ; rejected by the 
stock, it simply goes to make manure. On the contrary, 
the long blood beet grows mainly beneath the surface, 
and is, on that account, less exposed to heat, and enabled 
to resist drouth. The writer has never failed to secure 
a satisfactory crop, even under adverse circumstances, 
ten to twelve tons can be grown to the acre — besides, the 
Long Blood is unquestionably very rich — the percentage 
of sucrose being as great as in the White Sugar. 

Silesian Sugar Beet — This is the old, well-known 
form of sugar beet, long raised in this country for feed- 



154 MARKET GARDEHflNG. 

ing, and is one of the varieties cultivated abroad for 
sugar. Heretofore the great effort has been to obtain 
the largest bulk of root food from a given area, and 
where a primary object is to supply merely succulent 
food as distinct from dry, there is great gain in quantity. 
Eecent chemical analysis has demonstrated that the per- 
centage of saccharine in the large roots falls below that 
of the smaller, and, where the primary object is sugar, 
cultivators no longer aim at large roots, but rather those 
of medium size, well matured ; hence, it follows that in 
feeding for flesh or for butter, the smaller roots, in pro- 
portion to the weight fed, will accomplish greater results. 
The beet owes its fattening influences principally to the 
saccharine matter contained in it. This varies accord- 
ing to variety, manure, soil and climatic influences. 
The production in Germany averages one ton of sugar 
to each eleven or twelve tons of roots. When fed to 
animals, the entire proportion of sugar is realized, and 
produces wonderful results. 

Imperial Sugar Beet — This, it is claimed, is the 
most profitable of the sugar varieties, being richer in 
saccharine qualities than the preceding. It has a smooth 
skin, and shows the results of careful selection and 
breeding. 

MainTGEL Wuezel. 

There are several sub-varieties of the Long Mangel, 
known as the Mammoth Long Eed, Long Yellow, Long 
Oxhorn, Long White Green Topped ; but the writer will 
here confine his remarks to the first, ioasmuch as it 
embraces all the good qualities of others, and there can 
be no advantage in dividing attention between it and 
other sorts of similar shape and properties. The one 
referred to has long been cultivated as the mangel 
wurzel par excellence. In England, eighty tons have 
frequently grown to the acre ; in this country, thirty 
tons may be considered a good crop. 



BOOTS FOE STOCK FEEDING. 155 

Red and Yellow Globe. — There are two round 

types of mangels, each possessing very similar qualities ; 
indeed, the distinction is mainly in color, and, hence, 
simply a matter of fancy in the cultivator. For facility 
of harvesting the crop the globe form has an advantage 
over the long, as is evident at sight ; and a further, and, 
possibly, more important advantage, is the smaller waste 
in fibrous neck, and there is less liability to suffer, in 
extreme drouth, an important consideration, in our cli- 
mate. Seventy tons to the acre is not uncommon in 
England. 

Yellow Oval, or Intermediate. — This variety, 
having much to commend it, commands a large share of 
favor. It is a productive variety, raised with great suc- 
cess on any good soil. 

Golden Tankard. — A heavy producer. The rich- 
est colored and smoothest skinned of the family of man- 
gels, and the most nutritious in its albuminous com- 
pounds, proving forty per cent, higher than the long- 
red mangel. The roots of this variety are perfect pic- 
tures. It is distinct in every particular, even to the 
color of the leaves, the ribs and leaf stems being quite 
golden. 

Cultivation. 

The soil selected should be a light loam, free from 
hard clay, and if of a slightly calcareous nature, so 
much the better; plow deeply, when the apple is in 
blossom, as a guide to the season ; later the crop may be 
overtaken by drouth. Harrow thoroughly, furrow out 
to a depth of eight inches with a double mold board 
plow, if such can be had, or, if not, with an ordinary 
plow, casting the earth both ways. Apply in the furrow 
a liberal dressing of well-rotted stable manure, or about 
twenty dollars' worth per acre of commercial fertilizer, 
the component parts of which should be soluble phos- 



156 MAEKET GARDEJSTIKG. 

phate of lime, potash, nitrogen and sulphate of lime. 
After the application of the fertilizer run a subsoil plow- 
in the open furrows, breaking up the hard pan and dis- 
tributing the manure. Deep culture is a necessity to 
success, and the sub-soil plow the most important imple- 
ment, as every inch the soil is deepened permits the 
roots to draw nutriment from an additional hundred 
tons of earth per acre. Next, split the ridges covering 
the fertilizer, and, transposing the relative positions of 
ridge and furrow, back down the new ridges nearly to 
the level of the field, and drill upon the fiat so formed, 
the seed thus being placed directly over the fertilizer 
and broken subsoil. If the weather be dry, a roller 
should follow the seed drill, to insure germination. An 
advantage will be found in preparing the ground, apply- 
ing the fertilizer and splitting the ridges, a fortnight in 
advance of drilling, that a portion of the fertilizer may 
have assumed an assimilable form for the early subsist- 
ence of the young plants. A light dressing of common 
salt applied to the soil will be found beneficial to the 
best crop, especially in dry soil. When the young plants 
are half an inch high, they should be side-scraped with 
steel hoes, and then cross-cut with four-inch hoes into 
clumps of three or four plants, the clumps to be after- 
wards reduced to one plant by hand-weeding as more 
fully described under the head of Turnips. This process 
will give about thirty thousand plants to the acre if the 
stand be good. 

The crop should be kept free from weeds, and the 
soil loose, that air and moisture may more freely pene- 
trate to the roots. With thorough cultivation and sub- 
soil breaking in mid-summer, the roots are not so liable 
to suffer from variations of temperature and moisture ; 
hence, the growth is more uniform, and the roots are 
less weedy and distorted. During the entire culture 
care must be taken not to injure the leaves of the plants, 
as with impaired lungs, a healthy action is impossible. 



ROOTS FOK STOCK FEEDING. 157 

When the roots are fully developed, and ripe, which 
will be about the first of October (and may be known by 
the stoppage of circulation), they should be taken up ; 
if they make a second growth, under certain atmospheric 
influences, a large portion of the saccharine matter goes 
to form new leaves. On the other hand, they should 
not be disturbed before maturity, as the formation of 
saccharine matter is most rapid at that period. The 
roots can be taken out by passing a subsoil plow under 
them, which, if run deep enough, will escape all but the 
extreme points, and the saving in time more than com- 
pensates for the loss of product. 

Care must be taken in harvesting the roots, that 
they be not bruised ; those thus injured are apt to decay. 
The tops should be cut so closely as to remove all leaf- 
huds, as the dampness of the pits may cause the embryo 
buds to burst forth, and thus exhaust nutritious quali- 
ties. The roots, when pulled, should be pitted without 
delay, as described for ruta bagas or "Swedes." The 
European growers of beets have a proverb, " Out of the 
earth into the earth," and with care they may be kept 
till the first of July. 

And here, to avoid the necessity of repetition, we 
will say that the foregoing remarks apply equally as 
well to the culture of the carrot and parsnip. Every 
stock breeder should grow the beet, in some of its varie- 
ties, as he may lay up for winter a valuable supply of 
this food at times when Swedes or turnips have failed, 
by reason of the fly or dry weather. The beet, though 
requiring earlier planting, is for that reason more relia- 
ble in vegetating, and is well established before the blaz- 
ing days of July, when the turnips are just breaking 
ground, perhaps to be devoured by the fly. The beet 
leaves may flag at midday, but next morning the cells 
are distended, the leaves crisp and full of vigor. Exten- 
sive breadths of sugar beets are grown in Southern 



158 MARKET GARDENING. 

Europe, where the Swede is seldom seen, at least, never 
raised for cattle, because of the hot sun and dry soils. 
The beet, for feeding market cattle, is unsurpassed, and, 
by deep pitting, can be kept from season to season. By 
the practice of deep pitting the writer was enabled, at 
the International Centennial Exhibition, May 15th to 
June 1st, to exhibit twenty varieties of beets, one bushel 
of each, preserved in perfect condition, as sweet and 
crisp as when taken from the field in ISTovember, also 
carrots in equally good condition. Southern readers are 
advised to try the beet, believing that they will realize 
a profit. 

Estimate of Cost. 

A crop of ten tons of beets can be produced at ah 
expenditure varying from thirty to forty dollars. The 
following estimate may be taken as an approximation^ 
soil, situation, cost of labor and fertilizers, all having, 
however, an important bearing upon the cost : 

Rent of land $ 7.00 

Plowing, harrowing and rolling 3.50 

Ridging, application of manure and subsoiling 3.00 

Manure 18.00 

Drilling 50 

Thinning, weeding and hoeing ^ 4.00 

Tliree cultivations 3.00 

Two hoeings 5.00 

Subsoiling between rows ; 2.00 

Lifting the crop 3.00 

Total ••-■ $49.00 

The ten tons, under this estimate, would cost less 
than five dollars a ton, or about twelve cents a bushel, 
and in the cultivation of large breadths the cost per acre 
can be reduced, while the production may be increased 
twenty-five to fifty per cent. 

The Carrot. 

To the dairyman whose object is gilt-edged butter 
during winter, commanding readily double the price of 



BOOTS FOR STOCK FEEDING. 159 

the ordinary market grade, carrots may be considered 
indispensable. They not only give the richness of sweet 
vernal grass to the milk and cream, but color the butter 
naturally, beside which all artificial methods are imper- 
fect and unsatisfactory. To the country family, which 
can aiford the higher comforts of life, and with whom 
butter is not simply something so-called, irrespective of 
quality, perhaps lard-like in substance, flavor and color, 
the carrot need not be commended ; it speaks its own 
praise. 

To the dairyman, whose object is simply milk, and 
milk only, the ruta baga and the beet may supply his 
wants ; they can be, especially the former, produced at 
less cost than the carrot, and will yield as great, or even 
greater, flow of milk, an advantage which need not be 
enlarged upon, and it is certain where either is fed in 
connection with only a moderate addition of farinaceous 
food, as Indian meal, in preference to all else, butter of 
prime quality may be obtained. 

The Varieties. . Orange Danvers, Half Long. — 
A valuable sort of the Half Long type, admirable in 
color, fixed in habit, a wonderful producer, the best of 
all for the stock breeder, and valuable to the market 
gardener. With this variety the planter secures the 
largest return to the acre with the least difficulty of 
harvesting. 

Long Orange, or Long Red Surrey. — The Long 
Orange carrot is an old standby for winter use. Eaise 
more than needed for table use and share with the cow, 
she will make ample return for the kindness, filling the 
pail with rich milk, and giving the butter the color and 
flavor of that from grass. 

Long White Belgian and Large Yellow Bel- 
gian. — These vary, principally in color, and produce 
a larger return than other Carrots. To the milkman 
and to the stock-feeder they are worth much more 



160 MARKET GARDENING. 

than the cost of culture, promote liberal secretion of 
milk of improved quality over that from dry food, 
and may be fed alternately with ruta bagas and beefs, 
witli the best results. The stock-feeder will find them 
of high value. Fed to the stalled ox, or the wether, 
being fattened for the butcher, or the ewe strengthened 
to nourish the early lamb, succulent food, just such as 
the carrot gives, is indispensable. The experienced 
feeder will be cautious lest he overdo the thing, and 
on the first evidence of failing appreciation of the special 
food supplied, will substitute some other; hence, the 
importance of providing variety ; and Just here comes 
in the opportunity to recommend a portion of each, ruta 
bagas, beets and carrots, so as to alternate as needed, 
each heavily dusted with Indian meal and bran, and a 
proper portion of salt, the roots, of course, previously 
prepared by washing and slicing. 

Cultivation". 

The field culture of the carrot is identical with that 
prescribed for the beet, in every particular; the pro- 
cesses are the same, and the time of sowing, also. Crops 
of eighteen hundred bushels have been raised to the acre, 
and one-third of that quantity may be confidently looked 
for under proper conditions of soil, culture and season. 

Cultivators are advised to run a subsoil breaker 
upon both sides of each row at least twice during the 
season of growth, especially if drouth prevails, that the 
fibers may be better enabled to extend, and for the pro- 
motion of subterranean circulation. This process is rec- 
ommended for the culture of the beet and mangel. The 
cost, per acre, of producing a crop of carrots (allowing 
twenty dollars for manure, and twenty dollars for prep- 
aration and culture) should not exceed forty dollars ; 
which, at four hundred bushels, would be ten cents a 



BOOTS rOK STOCK FEEDING. 161 

bushel, and at six hundred bushels, less than seven cents 
per bushel, for a crop, the profits and advantages of 
which need not be enlarged upon. 

Preservatiojs^ x)e Carrots. 

The carrot does not keep well, except in cool 
weather, and even in winter more care is requisite than 
with either the ruta baga or beet. It is, therefore, well 
to so adjust the consumption of the crop, that it be used 
up in season. The narrow trench method of storing 
beets for winter use, is emphatically the one for this 
root, above all others ; do not trust them in a cellar, 
even, though it be cool, nor in mounds piled two or 
three feet high, as was, and is still, practiced. 

The methodical farmer will not be alarmed at the 
injunction of caution ; he knows it is better not to 
attempt anything which cannot be done well, and, hav- 
ing once commenced a job, the only economic course is 
to see it effectually finished. 

Kohl Eabi, or Turnip-Rooted Cabbage. 

This plant is a variation of the cabbage family, 
fixed in character by long years of selection. The stem 
above ground grows into globular, or olive-shaped form, 
and possesses features common to both cabbage and tur- 
nips. It is used both for table use and stock feeding, 
and in parts of England, where turnips can no longer 
be produced, it has widely taken their place, yielding 
from twenty-five to thirty-five tons to the acre. Only a 
few localities are suitable to its growth, the requisites 
being a moist atmosphere and soil. In this country 
success can only be assured on the seacoast or on damp 
lowlands. 

The seed, two pounds to the acre, should be sown 
five to six weeks earlier than Swedes or ruta bagas. The 
land should be furrowed out at two and one-half feet, 
11 



162 MAEKET GAEDENIITG. 

and dressed with an ammoniacal fertilizer, dried fish, 
marl or guano, the furrows closed and the seed drilled 
on top after smoothing down. The young plants should 
be cut out to ten inches apart. The plant is quite 
hardy, the roots resisting the effects of frost for a long 
time ; very useful for sheep feeding in winter. There 
are three leading sorts, viz. : 

Purple. — A variety having a blue purple skin. 

White Vienna — Very choice — smooth light green 
skin. Very few and very small leaves. 

Large Green. — Large bulb, green skinned. Leafy. 

The Parsnip. 

The original of the cultivated parsnip is found 
growing wild in England, the root white, aromatic, 
mucilaginous, sweet, and possessing a degree of acridity 
which it loses by cultivation. 

In our experiments in search of facts to be used for 
our own advantage in stock feeding, and to be commun- 
icated for public good, we have, from time to time, 
raised the parsnip for the purpose of feeding to a herd 
of Channel Island cattle, but the results have not con- 
vinced us of the economy, in comparison with other 
roots, for horned cattle. There is this advantage, how- 
ever ; the parsnip never rots when stored, and if work 
presses, may be left out over winter so far north as Phil- 
adelphia without loss, thus reserving this special crop 
for spring feeding. 

Bloomsdale — A selection from the Hollow 
Crowned, shorter, thicker, easier to take all out of the 
ground, and producing more tons to the acre. 

Sugar, or Cup. — An old variety, longer and slim- 
mer than the Bloomsdale, the variety usually sold. It 
is said that the excellence claimed for Guernsey hams is 
attributable to the parsnip, which is a prominent food 
foi- the hog of that island ; it may be well for some one 



BOOTS FOR STOCK FEEDING. 163 

among ourselves, who has the opportunity, to test the 
fact. In sections where frost does not interfere, a por- 
tion of the crop may be left over winter and the hogs fed 
upon them as they stand, the proportion of saccharine 
matter being increased by frost, and the roots rendered 
still more palatable. It seems practicable, by this 
method, for breeders of swine to accomplish, in the 
Southern States, results highly profitable, in comparison 
with cost of culture. 

The writer desires, with this in view, to urge the 
Culture of parsnips in all swine-breeding sections, the 
cost of the crop being simply the culture and manure, 
while production can be made to reach ten tons of roots, 
possessing nine per cent, of sugar. 

Time of Sowing Parsnips. — The seed of the 
parsnip, though vegetating freely under favorable condi- 
tions, not infrequently fails when sown late, when heat 
and drouth prevail ; hence, it should precede the carrot 
and the beet by some days ; a good guide to time of 
sowing being the blooming of the cherry. The direc- 
tions for the culture of the beet apply to the parsnip. 

In conclusion, the writer will observe that the cul- 
ture of roots entails trouble and expense, and that no 
one should attempt it unless determined to succeed. 
Farming is, with Americans, in by far too many cases, 
a slipshod business. The merchant, the manufacturer, 
the master-mechanic, who should conduct his afPairs 
with careless irregularity, indifferent to cost as compared 
with compensation, who should be found unprepared at 
the moment of pressing demands upon him, surely could 
not expect a successful issue to his efforts ; and why 
should the tiller of the soil expect exemption from 
results almost inevitable ? Farmers, as a class, are 
laborious enough — ^in many cases, far too plodding; 
thought and reflection, united with physical exertion, 
w'ould accomplish more. A fruitful source of disap- 



164 MARKET OARDEKING. 

pointment proceeds from our attempting too much in 
proportion to our means ; not infrequently, larger 
breadths of land are designed for crops than the capital 
at command warrants. With the farmer, capital means 
laborers, manure, working stock and numerous incident- 
als, and the land marked out for cropping should ever 
be subordinate to these. In tillage it is, by far, better 
to do a little well ; there may be profit in that ; the 
reverse is certain to result in loss. 



CHAPTER XXII. 
Packing and Shipping Vegetables. 

As a rule all the products of the garden, not grown 
on trees and hardwooded vines, are usually called vegeta- 
bles, but at least one-half are really fruits. A bean, pea, 
tomato, eggplant, melon and squash, is as much a fruit 
as an apple or peach, for their enlargement is subsequent 
to flowering. They are borne on the flower stems and 
are the results of fertilized flowers. That kind of garden 
plant alone is a culinary vegetable which develops tissue 
under ground, as in the turnip, carrot, onion, parsnip; or 
above ground as in the leaf-stalks of celery, or leaves of 
the cabbage, lettuce and parsley. All these growths are 
independent of sexual results, and as a rule these plants 
require cooking to prepare them for food, although there 
are a few exceptions. 

These distinctions, however, do not bring cash to the 
market gardener. He must, after growing the articles, 
look for his profit in good packing, quick transporta- 
tions, honest commission agents and a judicious selection 
of markets. 

The prices obtained by southern market gardeners 
shipping truck to Philadelphia, 'New York nnd other dis- 



PACKING Al!fD SHIPPING VEGETABLES. 165 

tant points, depends so much upon the manner of pack- 
ing that it is a subject to which too much attention can- 
not be given. 

To illustrate: Florida egg plants sent to Philadel- 
phia about May 1st command 17.00 per barrel-crate, but 
later on in the season, as the temperature increases, they 
arrive, often due to bad packing and slow transportation, 
in such decayed condition as to be worthless. Cucum- 
bers, in the Philadelphia market about the last of May, 
are usually worth $1.00 per dozen, but as the warmer 
weather of June approaches many arrive in such bad con- 
dition as often to remain unsold. Beans in this market 
command in April about 15.00 per crate, but in May are 
often unsalable on account of bad packing, insufficient 
ventilation in cars and the holds of steamships. Such 
perishable articles should be shipped only in crates hold- 
ing not over one bushel, better one-half bushel, as beans 
and peas when discolored are unsalable. Forty-eight 
hours in early spring is as long as peas will safely carry, 
sometimes one day is more than they will stand. 

Tomatoes sent to Philadelphia from the far South 
in March and April are worth 13.00 to 15.00, but are so 
likely to decay during the warm weather of June as to be 
unprofitable, or perhaps because they come into compe- 
tition with the new crop from Maryland and Delaware. 
Tomato crates should not be over one-half bushel in 
capacity, and the fruit when picked not be over half ripe. 
Two days' carriage is as much as they will withstand. 

Ventilated Packages. — It cannot be doubted that 
the shipping season for vegetables could be much pro- 
longed by the use of better packages and better freight 
cars, the sound condition being prolonged in proportion 
as the packages are well ventilated, and, on the other hand, 
the rotted condition increased in the proportion of non- 
ventilation. 

All vegetables and fruits generate heat and moisture, 
and to an increasing extent as the temperature rises. A 



166 MAEKET GARDENIN^G. 

rapid removal of these exhalations, as they are in the open 
air while the fruit or vegetable remains growing, pre- 
serves them in good condition, but to keep the vegetables 
in a close, confined atmosphere hastens fermentation and 
decay. The packages should be small, as bulk is a hin- 
drance to ventilation. Barrels are bad packages ; better 
use double sized flat crates, with a partition. Costly 
refrigeration is not necessary if thorough ventilation can 
be obtained, and it cannot be doubted that ice cold refrig- 
eration ruins the flavor of fruits and vegetables. Also 
fruits of hard- wooded plants, as peaches, grapes and 
pears, and, we may add, strawberries, require more care- 
ful handling than vegetables, but no fruit will require 
more careful treatment, critical sorting and packing^than 
tomatoes, egg-plants and cucumbers. These the trucker 
should pick when of full size, and just as the ripening- 
process is about to set in, which condition is indicated by 
a distention of the tissues and a disposition to change 
color. No trucker who expects to make a reputation 
should ship small or defective stock ; in fact he should 
put himself in the place of a city purchaser, and consider 
what he would buy from a green grocer or provision 
dealer, and ship only such quality. 

Crates and Packages. — When packing vegetables 
or fruit for market, do not use close boxes, or even ordi- 
nary slatted boxes, AVell-made ventilated fruit and veg- 
etable packages can be purchased in every section of the 
country where market gardening is pursued. Of course, 
some forms of packages are better than others. Light 
packages save freight and insure more careful handling. 

Sorting for Packing. — The sorting of vegetables 
or fruits for shipment demands so much care that every 
imperfect specimen should be rejected. The packing 
should not be done under a broiling sun, but under a 
shed or tree, so that the goods may be cooled off by every 
passing breeze, for, if packed in temperature of 90° or 



PACKIKG AND SHIPPING VEGETABLES. 167 

100°, they will, wten put into close cars, soon develop a 
temperature 20° or 30° higher consequent upon a fermen- 
tation which might otherwise be avoided, or certainly 
deferred. 

Pack snugly, using just enough force to place them 
sufficiently tight to prevent shifting. Avoid baskets, as 
top weight injures specimens at bottom. See to it par- 
ticularly that every package contains uniform specimens. 
Do not mix culls or second grade stock with first class, 
for by so doing the contents of a full package is rated at 
the market value of the lower grade which it contains. 

Outwardly, packages should be neat and attractive, 
as first appearances influence values. Every thoughtful 
shipper of vegetables or fruits is not only led to pack uni- 
formly throughout his crates, but to ship in crates bear- 
ing his name, so that what reputation he makes for him- 
self may benefit him through dealers knowing his name 
and address. Oranges and vegetables from certain par- 
ties in Florida have brought much better prices and met 
with quicker sales than equally good products from other 
parties, simply because the brand on the package was a 
positive guarantee of quality. 

The market is seldom broken in prices by good fruits 
or vegetables ; it is the misshapen, unripe and badly 
selected products which injure the sale of a better article. 
The inexperienced grower of vegetables or fruits does not 
have a conception of how the crates are handled before 
reaching the possession of the retail dealer. Depot por- 
ters, freight handlers, expressmen, draymen, storekeep- 
ers, all working in a hurry and doing their share to shake 
up and crush the contents, if not to break the package. 
It may be safely estimated that an ordinary crop is han- 
dled fourteen or fifteen times before reaching the con- 
sumer. 

The shipper must not imagine that Ms goods are 
to receive special attention from transporta,tion compa- 



168 MAKKET GAEDENIKG. 

nies or from commission men. The companies care little 
for his individual interest, and the commission men, if 
doing a business of any volume, have no time to look to 
special cases, but endeavor to deal equally with all who 
look to them as agents. 

Early Shipments. — Early shipments are always 
profitable when the fruit or vegetable is properly devel- 
oped, but quality should be aimed at by the grower, 
rather than early, large, or extensive shipments. As an 
example of the evil effects to produce quantity at the 
expense of quality, notice the result of the introduction 
ot the Kolb G-em watermelon, an early, reliable sort, a 
good shipper, showy outwardly, but in quality only third 
class, so poor in texture and flavor that the consumption 
of early watermelons by people of discrimination has 
fallen off to over one-half, because it is impossible to 
obtain anything but a miserable Kolb Gem until Northern 
grown watermelons come into the market. 

Quality Most Important — Quality should never 
be sacrificed to quantity, either in the production of enor- 
mous yields to the acre or in the production of monstrous 
specimens, as so often is the case in cabbage and cucum- 
bers. 

Market Quotations — Truckers to be successful 
salesmen should be subscribers to one or more of Produce 
Journals, that they may familiarize themselves with the 
wants and conditions of the various markets, sending 
their products where they are most likely to bring the 
best prices. Supplies and prices, however, vary in noth- 
ing so much as in fruits and vegetables. Cities like 
Philadelphia, New York, or Boston, may take at a good 
price a thousand crates of cucumbers in one day, and the 
next day decline them at any price. 

Freight Cars. -^However cautious the shipper may 
be, his care and labor is defeated if the railway com- 
panies do not furnish freight cars of such design as to 



IMPLEMENTS FOR FARM AND GARDEN. 169 

keep a steady stream of outside air passing through and 
over the load, thereby insuring good ventilation. It would 
seem that it is the railway companies which are respon- 
sible for dumping upon us, in the months of May and 
June, such quantities of half diseased, green fruit and 
vegetables. 

The grower of garden vegetables for shipment 
should plant a variety and not confine himself to one, as 
cucumbers, cabbage or tomatoes, for he never knows 
when the market will be glutted, and if it be of that sort 
on which he has built his expectations of profit he may 
be sadly disappointed. In shipping, it is better to ship 
continuously to three or four established markets than to 
attempt to follow high quotations from various sources, 
as the conditions which regulate the prices may change 
daily, and points offering highest prices one day may be 
lowest the next. 

It is a mistake to divide a limited quantity of fruit 
or vegetables between many commission merchants, as 
the returns in small consignments are eaten up by the 
expenses of cartage and handling. 



CHAPTEE XXIII. 

Implements for the Farm and Garden. 

The improvements in the design and practicability 
of farming and gardening implements and tools, during 
the last fifty years, has fully kept pace with the mechan- 
ical development in machinery used in other arts, and it 
may not be out of place to make a brief reference to the 
leading mechanical contrivances used for vegetable gar- 
dening. 

Plows. — The prices for the ordinary wood or iron 
beam plows range from five to twenty dollars, and for the 



170 MAKKET GARDENING. 

sulky plows, on which the plowman rides, from forty- 
five to sixty dollars. In these different makes are varia- 
tions in the arrangement of the handles and beams, but 
the principal difference consists in the length, angle, twist 
or curve of the mould-board, the adjustment of the share 
or point, and the ease of draft. It sometimes happens 
that the plow most popular or which seems to be adapted 
to one particular section does not have the same reputa- 
tion in another. 

This sometimes arises in a great measure from local 
fancy or prejudice, sometimes from different conditions 
of soil. 

A good plow is a necessity to good farming, and the 
farmer will do best to select one that has proved to be 
adapted to his locality and is known to his plowmen. 

Hillside Plows — Besides the ordinary farm or 
level land plow, is the hillside or swivel plow, arranged 
to have the mould-board and point swing on either side 
of the beam, so that the furrow slice may be turned 
down hill and all the furrows lap in one direction, to pre- 
vent washing. This form of plow is sometimes used for 
level land plowing, as it leaves the field without a center 
or dead furrow, and for that reason the small sizes are 
often preferred by market gardeners. The sizes made 
are adapted to one, two, three or four horses, and prices 
range from five to twenty-five dollars. 

Subsoil Plows.— These are used to follow the fur- 
row made by the surface plows. The object of the sub- 
soil plowing is to open and loosen the strata beneath the 
farrow of the ordinary plow, that the soil may be deep- 
ened, drained, and consequently made warmer. As a 
rnle it is desirable to simply open the soil, as stirring up 
and mixing the upper and lower strata generally proves 
injurious, except when done with great caution. The 
depth of opening attained by subsoil plows varies from 
fifteen to twenty inches. Sizes are made to suit one to 



IMPLEMEifTS rOK FARM AND GAEDEN. 171 

three horses. The smallest size is mostly used for gar- 
den culture. 

Ridging or Double Mould-Board Plows are 
useful for opening furrows to receive manure, and ior 
closing the same, forming alternate ridges upon which 
to drill, and for plowing or hilling up, for shallow 
ditching, and for listing corn. 

Sod and Subsoil Plows are those in which two 
plows follow each other on one beam, one plowing the 
sod and the other the lower soih Too heavy for ordi- 
nary use. 

Cabbage Plows are small, one-horse plows, made 
with a low and short mould-board, so as to plow close to 
the row without disturbing the plants. 

Potato Plows, made for plowing out potatoes, are 
constructed with high standards to prevent clogging, 
have double mould-boards, from the rear of which prongs 
or fingers extend, which separate the potatoes from the " 
soil. 

Potato Diggers are machines made with a wide 
shear or scoop in front, running under the potato hills, 
raising the potatoes to a large sieve or grate in the rear, 
from which they are carried over and deposited in con- 
venient position to be lifted. Capacity with two horses 
said to be four to five acres per day. 

Harrows. — The harrow is the next important im- 
plement in the preparation of the soil ; the old style 
heavy wooden beam harrows are being superseded by the 
lighter iron and steel frame harrows. Many of these are 
arranged so that the teeth may be changed from a per- 
pendicular to a slanting position ; they then constitute 
what is called smoothing harrows. The wooden frame 
harrows are made square and double, with steel teeth. 

Disk Harrows — In addition to the harrows with 
teeth, others are made with revolving disks. In tearing 
old unbroken sod, hard baked or crusted land, black 



172 MARKET GARDENING. 

bottom land, the disk harrow requires less power to oper- 
ate, and produces better results. The operator rides on 
the machine. Seeders are sometimes attached, so that 
the land is prepared and seeded at one operation. 

Other harrows are made with revolving steel blades 
or knives, cutting into the soil and pulverizing it thor- 
oughly. The same advantages are claimed for these as 
for the disk harrows. 

The Acme Pulverizing Harrow, Clod Crusher 
and Leveler, is constructed with a double row of 
adjustable reversible coulters, does good work and, con- 
sequently, has a wide reputation. The Spring Tooth har- 
row is another valuable form. The frame is the shape 
of a triangle ; one end of each tooth is attached to the 
frame, the other drags on the ground, tearing up the soil 
and pulverizing it. 

Clod Crushers are shaped like a large roller, some- 
times with spike-like projectures, others being with pris- 
matic surfaces. It is a very valuable implement for pul- 
verizing lumpy and heavy clay soils. 

The Meeker Disk Smoothing Harrow and 
Crusher is principally used by truckers in preiDaring 
the soil for sowing fine seeds. It consists of a frame 
about six feet square, having four sets of rollers. On 
the two forward rollers the disks are set six inches apart. 
On the two rear rollers the disks are set three inches 
apart, and work between the forward rollers. An adjust- 
able center-board acts as a leveller. 

Manure Spreaders. — These were introduced some 
years ago, but, in consequence of their cost and the reluc- 
tance of gardeners to abandon old methods, have not met 
with the success that their importance would seem to 
justify. The advantages of the spreading machine is 
the ability to do twice the amount of work as in the old 
way, adding much to the value of the manure by more 
thorough pulverization and more even distribution. 



IMPLEMENTS FOR FARM AKD GtARDElSr. 1^3 

The Lime Spreader. — This is another very useful 
implement. There are several makes, varying slightly in 
details. Distributing lime is very laborious and unpleas- 
ant, and a machine that will relieve the farmer of this 
labor should be in more general use. 

Horse Grain and Seed Drills and Fertilizing 
Distributers are manufactured in diif»^irent localities 
throughout the country, on the same general principles, 
but varying in many particulars, as the arrangement of 
the tubes, rollers, feed cog gear, gauging levers, etc. 
Competition necessarily compels manufacturers to con- 
struct their machines with most desirable improvements. 
The machines are intended to sow all kinds of grain, 
grass seed and fertilizers, in any desired quantity or 
depth, and, as a rule, give general satisfaction. 

Broadcast Fertilizer Distributers are another 
contribution to the list of labor-saving implements. 
They are arranged to sow commercial fertilizers, ashes, 
plaster, to crush lumps and hard substances, and sow 
damp as regularly as dry materials. They are said to be 
simple, practical and durable. 

Hand Drills for Sowing Garden Seeds. — There 
are quite a number of different makers of these machines, 
all claiming to be the best. The principal leading ma- 
chines are the Keeler, New Model, Mathews, Planet Jr., 
Big Comstock, Matthew Improved. With one of these 
little machines the gardener can open the furrows, sow 
the seed, cover and roll at one time. In addition to small 
seeds these machines can be regulated to sow corn, beans 
or peas on a limited scale. 

Corn Planters. — On large farms, particularly in the 
Western States, planting corn by hand is almost entirely 
abandoned in favor of the more rapid and profitable mode 
of planting in rows with horse power. These machines 
are arranged to plant single or double rows. In some 
machines the dropper receives its motion from the wheels 



174 MARKET GARDENING. 

running oyer the surface of the ground, and in other's 
the dropping is accomplished by raising a lever at the 
required distance, by hand or by wires. Fertilizers are 
also dropped in the rows by special attachments. 

Hand Corn Droppers are also extensively used, 
and tliere are many patterns of these machines. One of 
the best is Fis'^'s Automatic ; it weighs between four and 
five pounds, and is said to plant in all kinds and condi- 
tions of soil us fast as a one-horse drill. 

Broadcast Seed Sowers, for sowing all kinds of 
grain, grass and clover seeds, are made to operate by 
hand or horse power. The hand machines are capable of 
sowing from four to six acres per hour, and tlie horse 
machines much more. The hand machines will cover a 
swath of from fifteen to thirty-six feet, according to 
weight of the seed being sown, the lighter seeds carrying 
the lesser and the heavy seeds the greater distance. The 
power machine will carry a little wider swath. They are 
arranged to be attached to any ordinary farm wagon. 
The Pearce's ImiDroved Gaboon machine is believed to be 
the best, but there are several other approved machines. 

The Potato Planter. —This is one of the most 
important additions to modern agricultural machinery. 
The old mode of dropping the potato cuttings, piece by 
piece, is a very slow and laborious operation, and on large 
areas is almost prohibitory. The introduction of the 
planters have changed all this. They are being intro- 
duced into all sections and seem to give universal satis- 
faction. One man with a machine and team can plant 
from six to eight acres per day. The machine can be set 
to plant from ten to twenty-six inches apart in the drills, 
the depth of planting being regulated by the driver. 
The marking out, plowing furrow, dropping potato seed, 
either whole or in pieces, drilling fertilizer and covering, 
all constitute one operation. 

Rollers — Field and garden rollers are used at all 
seasons when the soil is not wet, to crush clods and com- 



IMPLEMENTS FOR PARM AND GARDEN. 175 

press the earth, either before or after seeding, and on 
grass lands and grain fields in the early spring after 
frost is out. There is, unfortunately, very little improve- 
ment in this implement over those used fifty years ago ; 
they are made of wood, cast iron and wrought iron, 
some in one section, others from two to six sections. 
The rollers in sections have the advantage of turning 
without dragging. Sizes usually made are from single 
sections twelve inches wide to the six section field roller 
seventy-two inches wide. The field rollers are supplied 
with a box to hold additional weight. 

Cultivators or Horse Hoes — These are used for 
cultivating corn, potatoes, cabbages, etc., loosening tlie 
soil and destroying weeds between the rows, also for 
throwing the earth to or from the plants. They are con- 
structed with wrought iron frames, movable and adjust- 
able teeth. By changing the plates and moving the 
standards, one machine can be adapted to many different 
purposes. These machines are manufactured by many 
different parties throughout the country, but the Iron 
Age and Planet Jr. seem to have the lead in favor. 

Lee's Horse Hoe.— This is practically a weeding 
machine drav/n by one horse, has a wooden frame shaped 
like a cultivator, with eight curved spike teeth in front 
lollowed by two flat hoes or knives; the front teeth loosen 
the surface and the flat hoes shave off the weeds, leaving 
them on the surface to die. Crops can be hoed with 
these machines long before other cultivators can be used, 
as they can cut within half an inch of a row without dis- 
turbing the plants. 

T-wo-Horse Sulky Cultivators, with bwo wheels 
and a seat for the driver, and the Two-Horse Walking 
Cultivators are in use on many ordinary farms, but are 
particularly useful on large plantations. Working two 
rows at one operation, they accomplish twice as much as 
the ordinary cultivator. They are made with the revers- 



176 MAEKET GARDENING. 

ible plate teeth, or spring teeth, and are constructed so 
as to be entirely under the control of the operator. 

Hand GtArden Hoes. 

Notwithstanding the introduction of improved 
wheel hoes, garden cultivators and garden plows, the hand 
hoe still retains its position as an indispensable tool. The 
half-moon hoe, the square hoe and the scuffle hoe, relics 
of a past age, are, under modification, still in use, made 
of better and lighter material, and of superior design. 
It will suffice to notice a few. 

The Warren Hoe is a heart-shaped pointed hoe, 
having a ridge in the center with sides slightly concave. 
The operator may use the point, the sides or the wing 
tips, to obtain advantageous positions around growing 
plants. These hoes cost from fifty-five to sixty-five cents. 

Reversible Scuffle Hoe. — This has an A-shaped 
blade, the shank of which works in a curved slot, con- 
trolled by a thumb-screw ; the hoe may be set at any 
angle, either to push or draw. 

The Crescent Hoe, so named from the shape of 
the blade, has a sharp edge on the outer and inner circle. 
It is a form of scuffle hoe. 

The Weed Annihilator is a hoe having two blades 
crossing each other, held together in the center by a screw 
bolt connected with the shank of the handle. It is used 
as a scuffle hoe, the blades being expanded or contracted 
as desired. 

The Onion Weeder is a small triangular hoe, 
three inches wide on the broad end, handle about eight 
inches long. 

The Celery Hoe has a blade fourteen inches wide 
and eight inches deep, made especially for hilling up 
celery. Handle six feet long. 

The Trowel Hoe is shaped like a trowel and used 
for marking out or stirring the earth in very narrow 
spaces. 



IMPLEMENTS FOR EAEM AND GARDEN. 177 

The Nurseryman's Hoe has two prongs about 
nine inches long. It is designed for grubbing around trees. 

The Hexamer Hoe has six steel prongs, wedged 
into a clamp at the end of a five foot handle. It is val- 
uable for loosening earth too hard for the ordinary hoe, 
and especially for working in stony gronnd. May be 
reduced to four or two prongs by drawing the wedge ; 
broken tines may be replaced in the same manner. 

Planet Celery Earther or Hiller. — This, a two- 
horse implement, is something like a cultivator, but, in 
place of the side arms, has two hilling steel wings forty- 
five inches long, the rear ends of which may be expanded 
or contracted to such varying widths of rows, or the 
wings may be elevated as the hilling becomes higher. It 
is also made with a single wing. An iron rod called a 
leaf lifter runs from end to end of the machine outside of 
the wings and lifts the leaves, that the earth may be 
thrown up close against the stems. The machine is also 
useful in cultivating sweet potatoes. 

Wheel Hoes. 

Lee's "Wheel Hoe. — The invention of a market 
gardener, resultant from many years experience, is a sim- 
ple and effective tool. It has a triangular or V shaped 
iron frame, with five light harrow teeth in front followed 
by a flat steel knife for cutting weeds. The teeth loosen 
the earth, and the knife cuts off the weeds beneath the 
surface, leaving them on the surface to die, so that the 
work does not have to be repeated for the same growth 
of weeds. The ends of the knife are flanged upwards to 
prevent the earth covering small plants. The handles 
reach down to a wheel in front, giving the operator per- 
fect command of the machine. 

The Planet, Jr. — A double and single wheel ma- 
chine hoe, one form consisting of an iron frame having 
two wheels in front designed to straddle the row, the 
13 



178 MAEKET GAEDElSriISrG. 

other form one wheel only for cultivating between rows. 
A number of attachments are used, designed for different 
modes of cultivation. 

The Gem of the Garden is also operated by a 
single wheel or two wheels. It is a light, handy imple- 
ment, having attachments of plows, hoes and scarifiers 
suited for the cultivation of vegetables of all kinds. 

The Jewel single and double wheel hoe is very 
similar to the Gem, differing in the arrangement of the 
attachments. 

The Comstock Garden Cultivator and W^eeder. 
— A single wheel hoe of iron frame, and with steel teeth 
adapted to cultivating onions, beets, carrots, etc. Is a 
light running machine, doing good work. 

The Universal Hoe, single or double wheel, has 
blades on each side, adjusted by springs. 

The Matthew Weeder, of wooden frame, one 
wheel, hoes with standard and steel plates. 

The Champion Weeder, iron frame, handles and 
wheel, with a single flat pointed steel hoe, very liglit and 
easily handled. 

The Rotating Hand Cultivator and Weeder 
has iron frame, driving wheel iand ratchet wheel. The 
knives are of steel. 

Hand Plows, for use in the garden, are extensively 
used, and are very efficient in the making of plots too 
small for a horse plow and too large to dig by hand. 
Some are made with a long handle by which the operator 
draws the plow after him, others having a wheel in front 
are made to push. The hand plow may be made as use- 
ful in the garden as the ordinary plow in the field, as 
frequent cropping at odd times is rendered easy by 
hand plowing when horse plowing is impracticable. 

Fumigators. — Fumigation is at times a necessity 
in the greenhouse or conservatory, to destroy by suffoca- 
tion red spiders and some other insect pests, so difficult 
to reach that applications by syringes or sprayers fail to 



IMPLEMENTS FOE PARM AND GARDEN". 179 

kill. Among fumigators maybe named the following as 
efficient: 

Perlich's Excelsior Fumigator, made in the form 
of a sheet-iron cone, small at the top and gradually widen- 
ing, and covering a box with perforated top. Tobacco 
stems are packed in the cone and lighted charcoal placed 
in the fire box beneath, which draws its air from the out- 
side, the suffocating tobacco fumes being ejected from 
the top. The apparatus is perfectly safe and does not 
require watching. They are also used in hospitals and 
ships in case of infectious diseases. 

The Eureka Fumigator. — This resembles the 
Excelsior, the difference in the arrangement being very 
slight. 

Woodaisne Fumigator Bellows — These are 
yery efficient for fumigating single plants or small con- 
servatories. 

Spraying Machines and Atomizers. — The in- 
crease in the depredations of insects of both old and new 
species consequent upon the vast extension of cultivation 
of vegetables, fruits and flowers, and the extension of 
inter-state commerce, has necessitated the invention and 
manufacture of numerous machines adapted for spraying 
and puffing insecticides, liquid and dry, for the destruc- 
tion of such pests. 

Some of these inventions are adapted to small oper- 
ations, both in-doors and out. Others of larger capacity 
are intended to operate in the fields or orchards. 

Beginning with the smaller instruments, there are 
sprinklers, sprayers and injectors, for use in the conserv- 
atory ; garden and greenhouse syringes, made of brass or 
tin ; bellows for spraying liquid, Peck's sprinkler, brass 
and tin portable pumps, insect powder-guns, dredgerbox 
powder sifter, etc. 

For the more extended operations in the field, among 
the many machines for that purpose, a new device, copied 
from the French, has been introduced, which is said to 



180 MARKET GARDENIifG. 

give yery satisfactory results. It consists of a flat copper 
or tin can, designed to contain liquid, and be carried oti 
the back of the operator as a soldier carries his knapsack. 
The operator with one hand works a little force pump 
connected with the machine, and with the other hand 
directs a spraying hose upon the plants. In this way he 
is enabled to get over considerable ground in a short time 
and do effective work. 

A popular device is that of a barrel on wheels, with 
a pump attached, for throwing or spraying liquid on trees 
and plants. Instead of a force pump, a pipe or hose is 
sometimes attached to the bottom of a barrel elevated on 
wheels. 

Boxes on wheels, called garden engines, having a 
pump attachment, are used for spraying trees and plants. 

A very simple arrangement has been in use for some 
years past for distributing, sprinkling or dusting Paris 
green and other powders on two rows of plants at one 
operation. It consists of a barrow, with a single wheel 
operating two revolving perforated cylinders, one on each 
side of the barrow, and from which the powder is sifted 
on the plants. 

The Farmer's Favorite Distributer consists of a tin 
cylinder with perforated bottom, carried in the hand like 
a bucket, with which the operator dusts the plants as he 
walks along. 

Grass Edgers. — On all well managed lawns the 
edges of walks and roads are kept free from straggling 
grass by several devices. For small lawns the edging 
knife is all-sufficient ; it is a crescent-shaped steel blade, 
with a handle socket in which may be placed a long or 
short handle. 

The Lightning Lawn Edge-Trimmer. — This 
has a revolving steel disc, fastened to the edge of a long 
handle. Pushed by the opei-ator the disc is put into 
rapid motion. A simple and efficient tool. 

Grass-Edging Shears, although old in style are 



IMPLEMENTS FOR FARM AND GARDEN. 181 

still in use. They liave two handles about three feet long; 
the blades work vertically, resting on a small wheel. 

The Planet Jr. Grass Edger is operated by two 
handles attached to an iron frame, with bearing wheels in 
front. A revolying steel disc on the side cuts the grass, 
and a small plowshare in the rear removes the cut sod. 

The Philadelphia Grass - Edger has a set of 
revolving knives, put in motion by a bearing wheel to 
which is attached a handle. The operator pushes the 
wheel along the grass edge, the quick revolving knives 
cutting the projecting blades of grass, leaving the edges 
well shaved. 

Richmond Sod Cutter. — This is an implement of 
recent introduction, and to landscape gardeners and 
others requiring sods in quantity, is of much value as a 
labor-saving appliance. Worked by one man and a 
horse, it is claimed that this machine will cut from 
thirty to forty thousand square feet of sod per day. In 
form it is a square box, supported by two small wheels, 
drawn by a horse, and guided by handles. A flat steel 
knife in front runs under the sod, cutting ribbons of 
uniform width and thickness. 

Lawn Sprinklers. — The lawn sprinkler is a valu- 
able invention for use on lawns and grass plots, in cities 
and villages where a supply of water under pressure can 
be had. The apparatus is made of a single gas pipe two 
and one-half or three feet long, standing upright, sup- 
ported on cast-iron feet. Near the base of the pipe is a 
screw-opening for the attachment of a water hose. At 
the top arms are so fitted as to revolve by the force of 
water pressure ; they are made hollow and perforated, 
and on the end generally have a perforated ball or bulb. 
As the arms revolve the water is thrown out centrifu- 
gally in a fine spray for a considerable distance. The 
number of arms vary ; some machines have four, others 
six to eight. Several styles of small sprinklers adapted 
to more limited spaces are also made. 



CHAPTEE XXIV. 

A Half- Ac KE Gaeden. 

The quantity of seed required for a half acre, dur- 
ing the spring, and for a succession of those kinds requir- 
ing sowing at later periods, will not yary much from 
the following table : 

Beet in three varieties, eight ounces each. 
Beans, pole, two varieties, two quarts each. 
Beans, dwarf, three varieties, tliree quarts each. 
Corn, sugar, four varieties, one quart each. 
Cucumber, two varieties, eiglit ounces each. 
Carrots, two varieties, four ounces each. 
Celery, two varieties, four ounces each. 
Cabbage, three varieties, one ounce each. 
Lettuce, three varieties, four ounces each. 
Melon, Water, two varieties, two ounces each. 
Melon, Citron, two varieties, two ounces each. 
Parsnips, one variety, four ounces each. 
Radishes, three varieties, four ounces each. 
Squash, three varieties, four ounces each. 
Spinach, two varieties, eight ounces each. 
Tomatoes, three varieties, four ounces each. 
Herbs, four varieties, one ounce each. 

In well managed gardens vegetable seeds are sown, 
or plants set out in rows, and to enable the amateur to 
make a close calculation of the quantity of various seeds 
required for any determined or measured area, the 
writer gives the following table, showing how much is 
needed for a row one hundred yards long. In these 
calculations, however, it is supposed that the seed are 
fresh, and that, at least, eighty per cent, will vegetate 
under favorable conditions. 

182 



A HALI'-ACEE GAEDEK. 183 

To Sow One Hundred Yards. 

Asparagus, eight ounces. Melon, "Water, two ounces. 

Beans, bush, three quarts. Melon, Citron, one ounce. 

Beans, lima, three pints. Mustard, four ounces. 

Beans, pole, one pint. Okra, twelve ounces. 

Beet, five ounces. Onion, two ounces for large bulbs. 

Broccoli, one-half ounce. Onion, eight ounces for sets. 
Brussels sprouts, one-half ounce. Parsley, two ounces. 

Cabbage, one ounce. Parsnip, three ounces. 

Carrot, three ounces. Peas, three quarts. 

Cauliflower, one-half ounce. Pepper, one-half ounce. 

Celery, three ounces. Pumpkin, two ounces. 

Collards, one-half ounce. Radish, six ounces. 

Corn, one pint. Rhubarb, four ounces. 

Cress, four ounces. Salsify, four ounces. 

Cucumber, four ounces. Spinach, six ounces. 

Egg plant, one-half ounce. Squash, three ounces. 

Endive, two ounces. Tomato, one ounce. 

Leek, two ounces. Turnips, three ounces. 
Lettuce, two ounces. 

The tbouglitful cultivator will, as a necessary pre- 
caution, provide himself with a surplus quantity of the 
seeds he designs to plant, to hold as a reserve for replant- 
ings, as dry weather, beating rains and insect depreda- 
tions often destroy the first sowings. The amateur gar- 
dener, and the expert, as well, should make out a list of 
the varieties of vegetables he desires to have, and then 
lay off on a paper a diagram of his garden, assigning 
certain rows to each sort. He can then readily calculate 
the amount of seed he will require. 

Desirable Varieties. — Desirable varieties of the 
leading families of garden vegetables are named as 
follows, and in order of maturity for table : 

Beans. Lettttce. 

Extra Early Red Valentine. Landreth's Forcing. 

Pink Eye Wax. Reliable. 

Landreth's Scarlet. Largest of All. 

Cabbage. Watermelon. 

Select Early Jersey Wakefield. Round Dark Icing. 

Reedland Early Drumhead. Long Light Icing. 

Large Late Flat Diitch. Boss. 

Carrot. Cantaloupe. 

Blunt Horn. Jenny Lind. 

Half Long Coreless. Extra Early Hackensack. 

Nantes Half Long. Acme. 



184 



MARKET GARDEKIlfQ. 



Paksnip. 
Bloomsdale. 

Cauliflower. 
Landreth's First. 
Snowball. 
Half Early Paris. 

Sugar Corn. 
Early Minnesota. 
Crosby. 
Evergreen. 

Celery. 
Dwarf White. 
White Plume. 
Paris Golden. 

Celeriac. 
Apple shaped. 

Cucumber. 
Landreth First. 
White Spine. 
Long Green. 

As it is always desirable, in a garden, to have a con- 
tinuous and rapid succession of crops. A system of 
rotation must be studied out and followed, otherwise at 
certain seasons part of the garden will go uncropped, 
and a direct loss ensue, for it is only by attention to the 
details of a prompt ' succession of crops that any cash 
profit can be had out of a private garden. 



Onions. 
Pearl. 

Extra Early Red. 
Silver Skin. 

Peas. 
Landreth Extra Early. 
Advancer. 
Telephone. 

Radish. 
Short Topped Earliest White. 
Prussian Scarlet Globe. 
Long Scarlet Strap Leaved. 

Squash. 
Extra Early Bush. 
Yellow Suinmer Crook Neck. 
Hubbard. 

TOIIATOES. 

Extra Early Jersey. 

Beauty. 

stone. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

Calender IiifDicATiKG Operations for the 
Northern and Southern States. 

JANUARY. 

Northern. — January is unfavorable to outdoor 
labor ; in the garden, especially, but little can be done. 
In the orchard some work may be attempted. Rods for 
beans and peas may be made ready, manure collected, 
compost heaps formed, — ^and, by the way, compost is 
beyond all comparison the best shape in which to apply 
fertilizers to most vegetable crops. Fruit trees pruned, 
hedges clipped — those formed of evergreens not till frost 
has disappeared — shape them narrow at the top, wide at 
the base. Asparagus beds top-dressed with compost and 
salt preparatory to being dug when frost has ceased. 
Hot-beds for early forcing may be made ready. 

Southern. — For the Southern States the writer 
simply aims to remind the reader of what may be done 
if the surroundings and climate be favorable. The 
enterprising man is not usually deterred by fears, and if 
his Judgment leads him to take the risk, he may act 
upon some of the following suggestions, if he resides 
south of the latitude of Charleston, The market gar- 
dener in the lower part of the Florida Peninsula culti- 
vates under conditions peculiar alone to his section. 

Sow radishes sparsely from time to time. Dress 
asparagus beds with compost and salt. This latter, 
though an active agent, may be safely given in heavy 
dressings to asparagus, and has the further advantage of 

185 



186 MAKKET GAKDENING. 

destroying weeds. Horseradish cuttings may be put out 
and peas sown at intervals ; and if some are frosted, try 
again. For very early cabbage select Summer "Flathead 
and Early Jersey "Wakefield, — these may be sown for 
Spring and early Summer use; the Reedland Early 
Drumhead may now be sown to come in still later ; also 
the early Dwarf Flat Dutch, a variety which stands both 
heat and cold, and which can be highly commended — 
thus keeping up an uninterrupted succession. Cauli- 
flower planted in the autumn will begin to head and 
may need slight protection at this season. Broccoli sown 
in September will begin to head, and it should be more 
widely cultivated. Sow turnips for early crop, also 
beets, carrots, spinach, parsley, all of which may be 
repeated next month. Hoe onions and other hardy crops 
planted in Autumn. Lettuce plants from fall sowings 
should be transplanted ; celery earthed up as required ; 
endive should now be in full growth, and tied up to 
blanch, in small quantities only as needed ; garlic, shal- 
lots and onion sets may still be planted, and peas planted 
the last of the month. 

FEBRUARY. 

NoRTHEEisr. — Next month will bring its work, and 
we can now only prepare for it. It is presumed that 
all persons residing in the country are provided with a 
cheap and simple hotbed, for forwarding tender vege- 
tables. Towards the close of this month seeds of cab- 
bage, cauliflower, tomato, Qgg plant and pepper may be 
planted in hotbed ; watch them lest they suffer by frost, 
or, as is not infrequently the case, from want of sufficient 
air as the weather becomes milder, when they will need 
also increased watering. 

If tools and implements are likely to be needed, the 
thoughtful man provides them in due season, overhauls 
his stock of seeds, and makes out a list of those which 



CALENDAE INDICATIIS^G OPEEATIONS. 187 

may be needed, to the end that they may be in hand 
before the time of sowing. 

SouTHERiS'. — The time for active iabor in the South- 
ern States is at hand. Plant peas, selecting the Extra 
Early, which is unquestionably the greatest bearer among 
the first early sorts, and is of fine flavor. Among the 
best peas following in succession are the American Won- 
der, Premium Gem and Advancer. Beans, cabbage and 
cauliflower seed and White Leaved collards may be sown. 
Kemember, highly enriched and well-tilled soil will alone 
produce good crops. of the cabbage tribe, which embraces 
the turnip and ruta baga. The cabbage plants from 
previous sowings should be transplanted, also lettuce 
plants. Sow spinach, radishes, carrots, parsnips, salsify 
and beets, and re-dress the asparagus beds. This delicious 
vegetable may be improved by the application of salt or 
refuse pickle, of which heavy dressings may be safely 
given. Plant squashes and melons. Do not be deterred 
from fear of loss by change of temperature ; the gard- 
ener who counts every liability will be, in the main, 
behind his more enterprising neighbor. Plant Minnesota 
Sugar corn for the first crop, follow up with Crosby 
Sugar, Early Mammoth and Evergreen for succession. 
Plant early potatoes, Ohio or Eose. 

MARCH. 

Northern". — Asparagus seed maybe sown, or the 
roots set out. For early beets sow Eclipse, Philadelphia 
Turnip and Early Blood Turnip. Sow cabbage in a 
sheltered place, if not already in hotbed. Test Lan- 
dreth's Earliest, Very Early Wakefield, Landreth's Early 
Summer Flathead, Early Market and Early Drumhead. 
Sow carrots. Extra Early Forcing cauliflower — attend to 
those under glass. Celery, cress, etc. Prepare compost 
and manure for late hotbeds. Set out horseradish 



188 MAKKET GAKDEKIXG. 

plants, make hotbeds, sow and transplant lettuce. 
Attend to mushroom beds and sow mustard. For onions 
put out as sets, those known as ''Philadelphia Buttons" 
keep the best. Of parsnips, Bloomsdale is the best. 
Peas, Extra Early, Advancer, Premium Gem. Plant 
early potatoes ; the Early Ohio is a prolific early. Sow 
Market Gardeners' and Summer White radish; the 
Strap-leayed Long Scarlet is an improvement on the 
old Long Scarlet, and is recommended. Sow rhubarb 
or plant roots. Sow seed of garden sage and tomatoes 
in hot-bed ; Early Jersey ripens first. Sow turnips, but 
generally so far north as Philadelphia these directions 
will apply better to April than to March. 

SouTHERi^. — Southward of Washington, Continue 
to plant peas and beans; Landreth's Scarlet is a fine 
golden wax. Transplant cabbage plants from winter 
beds, especially Landreth's Earliest, also Jersey Wake 
field. Eemember to have fine head cabbage and lettuce; 
deep culture and highly manured soil is required. Sow 
Extra Early Red onion and Extra Early Yellow. Leeks 
may be sown and a few turnips. Plant potatoes. Sow 
carrots and parsnips, if enough were not sown last 
month. Mustard and Cutting lettuce, for small salad, 
should be sown at least once a fortnight. Sow parsley 
and tomatoes in warm situation ; those from the hotbed 
may be set out. Sow peppers at the close of this month. 
Watermelons — Boss and Long Light Icing — may be 
planted, also Extra Early and Acme cantaloupe, and 
Reedland Giant muskmelon. Cucumbers, First and 
Choice ; Okra, Landreth's Long Green Pod ; also squash 
and pumpkins. Beets and other root crops sown last 
month will be advancing ; they should be thinned and 
cultivated. Sow celery — Paris Golden, and Spinach. 
Dress asparagus beds if not already done, and set out 
strawberry beds. French artichokes, if slipped and 
dressed last month, should have attention. 



CALENDAR INDICATING OPERATIONS. 189 

APRIL. 

Northern. — The exact time at which certain seeds 
should be sown must depend not only on location in res- 
pect to latitude, but also on the nature of the soil ; if it 
be heavy, a little delay will rather promote than retard 
our object ; the common sense of each one must be used. 

Sow asparagus seed or plant roots, if not attended to 
last month. Wherever practicable, a bed of sufficient 
size should be made to permit an ample supply without 
cutting every feeble shoot which peeps above the sur- 
face ; indeed where space and means admit, two beds 
should be maintained, and cut alternate seasons. Plant 
Landreth's Scarlet and Pink Eye Wax beans. Beets, 
Early and Long. Cabbage, Reedland, Early Drumhead 
and Late Flat Dutch ; sow freely that there be enough 
for the fly and to plant out. Carrots, Extra Early Forc- 
ing, and Danvers. Celery, if not sown last month; aim 
for large plants. Cress and cucumbers, sow in warm 
spot. Plant horseradish, if not done. Sow leeks and 
lettuce in drills, also plant from beds of last autumn's 
sowing. Sow sweet marjoram and mustard for salad. 
Sow nasturtiums and onions, and plant buttons for table 
use and for sets ; sow white, red and yellow thickly. 
Sow parsley ; parsnips, Bloomsdale Sugar ; peas, early 
and late, for a succession. Plant potatoes ; Green 
Mountain is a variety of very superior quality. Sow 
radish. Earliest White, Prussian Grolden Globe, White 
Summer and Lady-finger, for succession. Sow salsify, 
sage and spinach, at short intervals ; also thyme and 
tomatoes on borders, to succeed those sown in hotbeds. 
Sow turnips, if not sown last month ; they may succeed. 

Southern. — Spring sowm cabbage will now be fit to 
transplant ; manure well, if you expect fine heads. The 
plants set out in February and March will require cul- 
ture, and deep tillage is demanded by the cabbage tribe. 



190 MAEKET GARDENING. 

About the middle or latter end of this month, sow Reed- 
land Early, Late Mountain, Late Flat Dutch, Late Drum- 
lic-ad, Flat Dutch and Drumhead Savoy cabbage seed, for 
plants to be set out in June. Cauliflower and broccoli 
may be sown. Carrots, parsnips and beets previously 
sown are now advancing in growth, and should receive 
necessary care ; additional sowings of each may now be 
made. Pearl onions, set out in autumn, should be fit 
for use. Sow leeks for winter use. Turnips sown last 
month should be hoed and. thinned. Draw up the earth 
to the potato vines. Sow radishes ; the White Summer 
and Grolden Globe are the best for the season. Lettuce 
may be drilled where intended to head. Sow celery; 
plant more cucumbers, melons and squashes. Study 
varieties. The fertilizer best adapted to these vines is 
compost prepared the past season, formed of decomposed 
manure, well rotted sod, wood earth, etc. It is suffic- 
iently stimulating, and will not be likely to burn the 
plants during dry weather, and the vines will bear better 
than when of more rampant growth. Sow okra, Long 
Green Pod, if not already in. The vigilant gardener will 
keep his eye upon the weeds. 

MAY. 

NoRTHEEN. — During the past month the hardier 
vegetables have been sown, and by the middle of the 
present month all will have been put in. 

Plant bush beans for succession ; Lima, Carolina, 
and other pole beans may now be planted. Sow Long 
beets. Plant cabbage, and sow seed if not done last 
month. Plant peppers. Sow Nantes carrot. Remove 
glass in cauliflower frames. Weed celery. Repeat sow- 
ings for crops which have failed when first sown. Plant 
Jersey Pickle cucumbers. Sow Reliable lettuce, Largest 
of All, and Dutch Butter, in drills to stand ; thin out to 
four inches. Plant melons ; the best are the Boss and 



CALENDAR INDICATING OPERATIONS. 191 

Long Light Icing. Among musk melons the Extra 
Early is the first to ripen, but is not as good as many 
others ; Acme is a good variety. Thin out parsnips, if 
ready. 

Southern. — Plant pole beans, Lima, Carolina and 
Oreaseback ; also Uwarf Pink Eye Wax. The Saddle- 
back is good. Sow cabbage for winter; sow lettuce, 
Landreth's Cutting and Golden Curled. Sow radishes, 
the Golden Globe and White Summer. Melons, cucum- 
bers and squashes may be put in. Plant Landreth's 
Sugar and Evergreen corn, for succession. Sow peppers 
and tomatoes for plants for later Ofops. Set out sweet 
jiotatoes in suitable weather. Where water is of easy 
application it may answer to supply it, otherwise it 
hardly pays the cost of the labor. Under a burning sun, 
water should not be given directly ; it is better to apply 
it between rows of plants, they will thus supply them- 
selves without the liability to scald. 

JUWK 

l^ORTHERN. — The labors of the gardener will mainly 
consist in the tillage of the growing crop. The rapid 
growth of weeds at this season will admonish him of the 
necessity of timely exertion. 

The aid of appropriate tools in the culture of crops 
and the extermination of weeds need not be commended. 
Good implements are indispensable to success, and he 
who has provided them will not only have greater pleas- 
ure in his labors, but the profit which attends the judic- 
ious application of both time and labor. 

Keep asparagus beds clean. Plant Bush or Bunch 
beans for succession, and cultivate those in growth. 
Thin beets to four inches. Plant out broccoli, those 
sown in April ; also cabbages, especially the sorts which, 
it is desired shall come into use in September and Octo- 
ber, in advance of the winter varieties. Plant out 



192 MARKET GARDENIJS"^. 

celery, a portion for early use. Sow successive crops of 
cucumbers, of choice varieties. Plant Early Mammoth 
Sugar corn for a succession. Sow endive. Thin or 
transplant leeks. A few peas may be planted as a suc- 
cession. 

SouTHERK". — Plant beans; transplant cabbage and 
cauliflower, and Spring-heading broccoli seed may be 
sown. Cucumbers, melons and squashes may be planted. 
Sow tomatoes for a succession, beginning with the Early 
Jersey, Acme and Perfection. The chief labor in the 
garden had better be directed to what is already in 
growth ; but few seeds sown in hot weather, in a South- 
ern climate, repay the trouble. 

JULY. 

Northern. — This, like June, is the month of labor 
in the garden. Weeds are in rapid growth, plants are to 
be set out, and various matters require attention. 

Plant Landreth's Scarlet beans for succession; beets, 
the stock-feeding varieties. Long Blood Sugar ; mangold 
wurtzel may be planted for stock as late as the first of 
July. June is, however, much better. Beets, Early 
Blood Red Turnip, and h-alf Long for late winter and 
spring use, may be sown. The winter sorts of cabbage 
should now be planted out ; where many are to be trans- 
planted it is best to wait for a suitable time, a heavy rain 
or showery weather ; but in a small garden cabbages may 
be transplanted at almost any season by careful watering, 
and, if need be, shading. Plant celery. Sow endive. 
A few peas may be sown, but they seldom do well at this 
season. Turnips of all kinds may be sown. 

Southern". — Under favorable conditions, plant 
beans. Transplant cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli. 
Transplant leeks. Sow Nantes carrots and parsnips. 
Sow endive for early crop. A few turnips may be sown. 
Transplant celery for early supply, and prepare trenches 



CALENDAR INDICATING OPEEATIONS. 193 

for the main ^crop. Spinach may be sown toward the 
close of the month. The seed will not yegetate if the 
ground he dry; watering is practiced hy some, but the 
results scarcely repay the labor. Plant white potatoes. 
Short Prolific and Jersey Pickle cucumbers may be 
planted for pickles. Our remarks on ruta bagas apply 
with increased force, for in the South pasturage is less 
abundant than in the North ; besides, it is a most whole- 
some food for man as well as beast. 

Usually at this season the extreme heat and prevail- 
ing drouth render it difficult to get seed to vegetate. 
If failures occur, the only remedy is to try again under 
more favorable circumstances. Much depends on the 
quality of the seed sown. The stale stuff not unfre- 
quently sold, only disappoints and annoys. Therefore, 
purchase American grown, and that only the product of 
reliable persons, obtained direct or through merchants 
who get their supplies from the best sources and irre- 
spective of price. That offered '' remarkably cheap" is 
usually dear in the end. 

A UG UST. 

NoETHEKN. — The work of this month does not vary 
materially from the month just closed. Cabbage, for 
winter use, may head if planted at once. Earth up 
celery, and plant for future use. Plant endive. Bush 
or Snap beans gathered late in autumn, may be pre- 
served in brine (salt and water) for winter use, and vary 
but little from those freshly gathered. Sow Forcing and 
Eeliable lettuce, in drills to head. Sow peas, for this 
vegetable is a delicacy in autumn, and should more fre- 
quently appear at table. Extra Early, sown later or at 
end of this month and beginning of next, will perfect 
before frost. Sow Bloomsdale spinach for autumn use ; 
for winter use, sow next month. Sow the Spanish and 
China radishes for winter, and the Golden Globe and 
13 



194 MARKET GARDENIJSG. 

Red Turnip rooted for autumn use. Sow ruta bagas 
without delay, if not already done. Should the ground, 
be dry, work thoroughly and sow in the dust : the seed 
may vegetate with the first shower. A roller to com- 
press the soil sometimes promotes vegetation ; but there 
is this disadvantage, if heavy, dashing rain immediately 
ensues, the ground packs, and the seed is lost. Yellow 
Aberdeen, Pomeranean Globe and Amber Globe turnips 
should be sown early in the month ; also the Sweet Ger- 
man turnip. Early Dutch and Red-topped may be sown 
until first of September, though it will do well to sow at 
least a portion earlier, as at a late day it is difficult to 
remedy a failure. 

Southern". — Sow Reedland Early Drumhead cab- 
bage seed, to head in November ; also Landreth's Earli- 
est, Early Jersey Wakefield, Bloomsdale Early Market 
and Early Dwarf Flat Dutch for family use. Sow broc- 
coli and cauliflower, and transplant from an earlier sow- 
ing. Sow White Leaved collards. Plant onion sets for 
autumn. Sow carrots, squashes and ruta bagas to make 
up deficiencies in July sowing. Sow turnips for table use 
at short intervals. Plant potatoes for winter use. Drill 
lettuce. Sow radishes from time to time. Beets may 
be sown for the winter supply. Seeds directed to be 
sown this month, it may, perhaps be necessary to defer 
until the next, by reason of heat and drouth. Let the 
young gardener be not disheartened ; ultimately success 
will attend persevering efforts. 

SEPTEMBER. 

Northern. — Many and varied are the duties which 
devolve upon the gardener at this season. Not only do 
the growing crops demand attention, but seeds are to be 
sown to provide the necessary plants for the ensuing 
Spring. Roots are to be divided and reset ; strawberries 
planted. Sow Landreth's Earliest, Select Jersey Wake- 



CALENDAR IKDICATINa OPBRATIOJSrS. 195 

field, and Reedland Early Drumhead cabbage, to plant 
out in autumn, where the locality admits, or box up in 
cold frame to keep until planting time in spring; the 
latter end of the month will be time enough to sow in 
the latitude of Philadelphia ; especially sow the Early 
Market, also the Bloomsdale, as a succession. The Early 
Dutch and Eed Topped turnips may be sown the first 
week in this month, if failure has attended earlier efforts. 
In some sections the fly devours the early sowing ; they 
are less voracious after the nights become cool and dews 
heavy. Earth up celery. Sow corn salad, scurvy grass 
and chervil for winter salad. Sow Speckled Dutch let- 
tuce for Spring planting, the plants to be kept during 
the Winter in cold frames. Other good sorts for autumn 
sowing are the Forcing, Eeliable, and Early Summer. 
Sow spinach early in the month for autumn use ; later 
for winter and spring. The Bloomsdale is unquestion- 
ably the hardiest for winter, and withal the best in leaf. 

SouTHERif. — The work in the garden has com- 
menced in earnest. It is not too late to plant beans. 
Transplant cabbage sown last month ; Early Market, 
Early Dwarf Flat Dutch, Eeedland Early Drumhead, 
also the Early Jersey Wakefield, may still be sown. 

Towards the close of this and the fore part of next 
month, sow Flat Dutch, Lake Mountain, and Drum- 
head Savoy cabbage, for use early in the Spring, and 
to secure a good supply, sow liberally — the flies will have 
their share. Transplant cauliflower and broccoli, and 
sow turnips. Potatoes planted last month will require 
culture, Bloomsdale onion seed may be sown for a 
general crop, if Buttons or sets to plant are not at hand. 
Get sets of Pearl, Autumn, White Wax and Bermuda 
onions. Carrots sown now will be fit for use in December. 
Spinach may be sown from time to time; also endive. 
Celery plants need tillage. Lettuce may be sown, and 
Landreth's Forcing is a rare sort. Sow radishes fre- 
quently ; especially winter radishes. 



196 MAKKET GAEDENING. 

OCTOBER. _ 

Northern. — The labors of the gardener are varied, 
and he who neglects duties necessary to be done loses 
time not to he regained ; the autumn is upon him. The 
principal labors are, the protection of crops already 
grown, and transplanting others. Top-dress asparagus 
beds. Set out cabbage plants in a sheltered location and 
on light land for next season's use. Store beets and car- 
rots now or early next month. Plant out lettuce for 
next spring, and dig potatoes. Sow spinach at once, if 
not sown last month. Plant the Bloomsdale variety, as 
it is hardiest. 

Southern". — Beans, planted last month, should be 
cultivated. Transplant cabbage, also cauliflower and 
broccoli. Set out Bloomsdale Pearl onion sets and 
Autumn White Wax; these varieties are, indeed, won- 
derful for early maturity, size and appearance. Plant 
garlic and, eschalots. Sow spinach for winter use. 
Earth up celery in dry weather, and transplant from 
seed bed for further supplies ; also lettuce for spring 
use. Sow radishes as required. Dress artichokes pre- 
paratory for winter. Dress asparagus beds. Transplant 
strawberries. 

NO V EMBER. 

N"oETHERN". — The season for gardening is drawing 
to a close; indeed, it is limited to the preservation of 
roots and the hardier vegetables for winter use, and such 
operations as may be preparatory to another season. 
Now is a good time to transplant fruit and ornamental 
trees, shrubbery, etc. On loamy and light land, we pre- 
fer, decidedly, fall planting, but on heavy soil, or where 
the subsoil is clay, thus retaining the moisture near the 
surface, spring may be a more favorable season ; and it 
is generally esteemed the best for evergreens. Dress 
asparagus beds. Dig beets and store. Place cabbages 



CALENDAR IKDICATIKG OPERATION'S. 197 

in safe quarters. Dig carrots and store. Earth up cel- 
ery finally. Drain vacant ground if needful. Dig horse- 
radish and store for convenience. Examine onions in 
store. Dig and pit parsnips and salsify for convenient 
access. From first to twentieth of this month, according 
to locality, the winter supply of turnips should be pulled 
and pitted. 

Southern". — The garden work is ample enough to 
occupy attention. Sow peas ; if they escape the frost 
they will be ready for use in April. For sowing at this 
season, we recommend Tom Thumb and American Won- 
der ; they seldom rise over twelve inches, are abundant 
bearers, and are, withal, quite early ; also Little Gem, 
the three seeming to be admirably adapted to autumn 
sowing in the South, where, on apprehended frost, pro- 
tection may be given ; they are also equally well suited 
to early spring planting for the same reason, and if 
planted on ground manured excessively high, will yield 
as much to a given quantity of land as any pea known 
to us. Set out cabbage, if plants remain. Plant Pearl, 
Autumn White Wax and Bermuda onion sets. Blanch 
celery. Sow salad on sheltered spots. Sow radishes ; if 
frost kills them, it is only a little labor lost. 

DECEMBER. 

Northern. — Prepare compost. Prepare dung for 
hotbeds. Attend to hotbeds. Sow radish and cauli- 
flower salad in frames. Trench and drain vacant ground. 
Transplanting trees may still be done. 

Southern. — In the far South, peas may be sown to 
succeed those of November. See remarks under that 
head. Cabbage plants, sown in October, will be fit to 
put out. Sow Landreth's Earliest, Select Jersey Wake- 
field, and Eeedland Early Drumhead, to head in January 
and February. Sow radishes and lettuce. Look over 



198 MARKET GARDENITiTG. 

the spinach, thin it as you collect for daily use. Onion 
sets of all kinds may now be planted. Prepare ground 
for carrots. Earth up celery in dry weather. Tie up 
endive. Prune fruit trees, yines, etc. Transplant all 
hardy trees. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

The Grass Question". 

A multitude of farmers in the corn-growing States, 
and a still greater number in the cotton States of this 
country, are in quest of profitable and reliable tame 
grasses. In an agricultural sense, under the designa- 
tion "grass" is included the true grasses and those other 
forage and hay-making plants sown in connection with 
grass, and termed artificial grasses, as Eed Clover, 
Alfalfa, Sainfoin, Trefoil, and others. 

It may be stated, in a general way, that the capacity 
of land to grow desirable grasses is the measure of its 
agricultural value, and the extent and success in the 
practice of growing grass indicates the degree of advance- 
ment of a farmer in the scale of merit. Without grass, 
although he may produce some poor stringy beef, he 
cannot grow good mutton nor wool, nor will he have 
plenty of hay. In the South, particularly, as an out- 
growth of plenty of good hay and liberal feeding, that 
important farm manufactory known as the barnyard 
would be seen on a half million farms, which never knew 
a barnyard in its practical sense, as a manufactory for 
manure. The farm, county or State which cannot pro- 
duce its own pasturage for spring, summer and autumn, 
and its own hay for winter, is only half way up in the 
agricultural scale, be its other crops ever so profitable, 



THE GRASS QUESTION. 199 

for it is dependent on other sections for an agricultural 
staple which it should itself produce. 

In locations where such protracted drouth prevails 
as to burn up the present standard perennial grass, there 
are badly needed other varieties of grasses which will 
resist drouth, and, remaining green under hot sun, con- 
tinue to furnish a nutritious bite when others have suc- 
cumbed. Bermuda grass, a perennial from the West 
Indies, to some extent fills the requirements, but it has 
the objectionable characteristic of sometimes making 
itself a nuisance by its persistence. 

While the test of years and the experience of nations 
point to certain perennial varieties of grass as standards 
on ordinary farming soils, it sometimes occurs that wild 
or native sorts have high merit in their respective local- 
ity. For instance, many of the so-called wild annual 
grasses of the Southern 'States, so frequently looked upon 
by the planter as nuisances, especially those that strive 
to take possession of cultivated fields during conditions 
of summer heat, almost deadly to standard varieties of 
grass and other farm crops, are, many of them, even 
though some be annual sorts, just the types to carry 
coarse-wooled sheep through such trying seasons, condi- 
tions more serious to contemplate than the finding of 
winter subsistence. For, in respect to winter feeding of 
sheep or other cattle, the South has a great advantage 
over the North in possessing a climate encouraging grass 
to grow almost continuously, an elimination, to a large 
extent, from the costs of sheep husbandry of the North - 
ern expenses of housing the animals, and the storage 
and cost of prolonged winter feeding. 

The physical characteristics of grasses must be 
studied by the thoughtful farmer as respects their adapt- 
ability to his special soils, climate and purpose ; for 
instance, varieties doing well on dry land should not be 
sown on heavy, low, damp situations, nor others afford- 



200 MARKET GARDENING. 

ing a luxuriant and nutritious feed for pastured cattle, 
but of a habit of forming high tussocks, should not be 
sown with the expectation of machine mowing ; nor, 
again, should other sorts specially adapted to cutting 
green and feeding in the pen or stable, but which, like 
Alfalfa, have their crowns so elevated above the earth 
level as to be nibbled off by sheep, be sown for sheep 
grazing. 

Profitable farming in the Southern States can best 
be developed and diversified by diverting from the ordi- 
nary system of cultivation, or worse neglect, large areas 
to pasturage, and hay fields of Blue grass. Clover, Alfalfa, 
Alsike and Incarnatum, or, better, in some locations 
wild grasses, thus enabling planters to feed some mil- 
lions of sheep and clip six times as many millions of 
pounds of unwashed wool, suj)p]emental to which would 
follow an extended culture in corn and oats. 

It is self-evident that, to realize the wealth which 
millions of sheep, with their mutton and wool, would 
add to the South, there must be less acreage in cotton 
and a greater acreage in grass, for, while Mexican sheep, 
having some of the qualities of the goat, may live on 
such stuff as thistles and cactus, the finer-bred sheep 
must have an ample supply of succulent grass, with hay, 
corn and oats. There is an old proverb which is very 
true, "'No grass, no cattle; no cattle, no manure; no 
manure, no crops;" or, to illustrate the idea in other 
language, there is a French proverb, that grass is a 
synonym for bread, beef, mutton and clothing. 

Sheep farming naturally follows an advance in grass 
farming, but the grass must be provided before the 
sheep. When obtained, the two preserve the fertility of 
good lands, and, under good management, restore those 
classed as unfertile, and enrich the State. Nearly every 
farm of two hundred acres of arable land can support a 
flock of thirty to forty sheep, and, if it is not in condi- 



THE GEASS QUESTION. 201 

tion to do so, its owner should not rest till, with clover, 
corn, rye and other green manures, he has brought up 
his farm to that desirable condition. 

The American farmer need have little fear of over- 
production of wool, as the annual consumption in the 
United States amounts to 600,000,000 pounds of un- 
washed wool, which may be estimated as the clip from 
100,000,000 sheep. The Census Bureau of 1890 gives 
the total number of sheep in the United States as 
43,000,000, of a value of 1116,000,000, and cutting 290,- 
000,000 pounds of unwashed wool. 

In connection with the extension of grass culture 
on poor lands, much may be said in favor of green 
manuring as a preparation of lands, to sustain a crop of 
grass. For example, it often occurs that thin soils, 
which, without the expensive stimulus of commercial 
fertilizers, will not develop a fair sod of the standard 
perennial grasses, will yet grow a passable spring crop 
of broadcasted corn to a height of two or three feet. 
This plowed down before midsummer, and the field 
again immediately broadcasted with a second sowing of 
corn, to be plowed down in autumn, and followed by a 
broadcasted crop of rye, to be plowed down in February 
or March, will be found to have a marvellous fertilizing 
effect in sustaining grass, or any other crop. The man 
who pursues such a course of rejuvenation of his land 
should have his taxes remitted, for he is a good example 
in any locality, and should be encouraged. The corn 
and rye system of green manuring suj)ersedes the slow 
process of clover renovation. Cultivated grasses of bien- 
nial habit are, few of them, after being down for several 
years, entirely able to take care of themselves, but must 
be assisted by harrowing and seeding on bare spots, top 
dressing with fertilizer, and rolling. Worn-out pastures 
can be renovated, to a marked degree, by the application 
of bone phosphates, dried fish, meat and blood, and the 



202 MAKKET GARDE]!fI]srG. 

nitrate salts. Of late, in Europe, much attention has 
been directed to the use of a new fertilizer known as slag 
phosphate, a by-product of the Basic process of making 
Bessemer steel. This slag phosphate seems especially 
adapted for grass, and its trial is recommended. 

Ill many localities the profits of grass land can be 
increased over fourfold by means of irrigation, and its 
practice should unquestionably be pursued when the 
conditions are favorable ; that is, when water in large 
volume may be cheaply obtained, which, flowing by 
gravity from more elevated sources, can be distributed 
beneath the surface by underground conductors, in open 
ditches, or upon the surface. The writer once visited 
the irrigated farms outside of Bedford, England, and 
was amazed at the grass development. Subsequently, 
visiting Barking, below London, he saw crops of rye 
grown which produced a fresh cutting every three weeks 
of ten tons to the acre. He was informed that one hun- 
dred tons of green rye grass had been cut to the acre, in 
a single summer. 

While irrigation, in parts of the West, and on the 
Pacific slope, is a thing of everyday agricultural practice, 
enforced by reason of climatic conditions, and cheaply 
practiced by reason of elevated water supplies, the sys- 
tem is almost unknown in the rainfall States. Few 
localities can draw cheap and plentiful supplies of water 
from mountain sides, but even under the expense of 
pumping from rivers, it will pay to do it on tracts suffi- 
ciently large and level for the advantageous distribution 
of water. 

Over three thousand varieties of plants of the grass 
family are known and described by botanists, and while 
by far the greater part are of such character as at once 
to remove them from the list of farm forage plants, 
there remains a vast number not cultivated, scarcely 
tested, but worthy of experiment. The list of seeds of 



THE GRASS QUESTION. 203 

forage grasses offered by European seed merchants at 
the present day numbers over two hundred annual, bien- 
nial and perennial varieties ; but, without doubt, the 
number will, ere long, be considerably extended, for 
there are many wild forms of grasses all over the world 
well worthy of propagation ; for example, some of the 
wild grasses of Texas, Arizona and the Southwestern 
plains, rich when green, and very nutritious in the form 
of self-dried hay. Many of these may be much improved 
by critical selection, hybridization and rich feeding, and 
be fitted for cultivation in all high dry altitudes of the 
cotton belt. Among these wild grasses of the plains the 
most common is the Grrama grass, a perennial on the 
heavier soils, and known botanically as Bouteloua oligos- 
tachya. It is found on all the great plains of the South- 
west, growing in low, cushion -like masses, forming a 
succession of tussocks — a habit rendering it unsuitable 
for mowing, even if it grew tall enough for hay, which 
it does not. As a pasturage grass it is highly nutritious, 
and cures good hay on its own root. 

The next widely distributed variety on the prairie is 
the Buffalo grass, known as Buchloe dactyloides, a native 
of the plains from Texas up to Missouri. It is a peren- 
nial, affording a reliable supply of forage. In dry loca- 
tions it is desirable as a lawn grass. It is of low habit, 
seldom rising over four inches, and is inclined to grow 
in tufts, or patches. It is found in greatest breadths on 
the Texas prairies in the vicinity of Mesquit trees, hence 
it is often called Mesquit grass. It possesses a runner 
of long creeping habit, and, once established on con- 
genial soil, soon spreads over the adjacent land. Bear- 
ing few seeds, it is, consequently, best propagated by 
cuttings. When green, it is sweet and nutritious, and, 
dried as hay on the root, is very palatable to cattle. 
During drouths, when appearing to be about dead, it 
springs into life upon a rain, becoming green in a few 
hours, and developing with phenomenal rapidity. 



204 MARKET GAEDENING. 

Either of these grasses, no doubt, can, by selection, 
be improTcd as respects productiveness and durability — 
they are not referi'ed to as the only ones, or the best ones, 
but as examples of sorts already pastured upon by mil- 
lions of horses, cattle and sheep. Why should not these 
and others be brought to the Southeastern States, as 
most eflBcient aids in the diversification of agricultural 
practice ? 

Another American perennial grass not generally 
known, but of admirable character for Southern sections, 
is the Texas Blue grass {Poa arachnifera) discovered on 
the prairies of that State in 1853. It blossoms there 
about the last of March, and ripens its seed about the 
middle of April. Its habit, in Southern States, is much 
stronger than Kentucky Bkie grass. In Texas, under 
the severest drouths, it sometimes lags a little, but, after 
autumn rains, quickly springs into most vigorous growth, 
and continues to grow all winter. It makes a strong 
top growth for hay, and a matted sod standing contin- 
ued jjasturing. It roots deeply and sjjreads rapidly by 
buds from long, strong, underground stems, which, by 
their vigor, resist the encroachment of Bermuda grass. 
Once established, it will continue to stand for a lifetime. 
It is best propagated by cuttings of the roots, 20,000 set 
to the acre, or, say, one to each two square feet. Six 
pounds of seed are sown to the acre. 

These, and other grasses, will, before long, be 
brought into general cultivation, indeed, all of our cul- 
tivated grasses are selections from wild forms ; no doubt 
very inferior, originally ; for instance, Timothy, now 
the leading hay grass north of the cotton belt, was found 
growing wild in the hilly or mountainous districts, by 
the early American colonists, and sent to England in 
1763, where it at once assumed the highest rank over 
the four or five kinds of grasses then cultivated. Indeed, 
up to 1815, only four or five kinds were cultivated, and 



THE GRASS QUESTIOIf. 205 

it was not until the list of grasses was largely increased 
and root culture extended, that British agriculture began 
to develop, for not till then were there increased oppor- 
tunities for the extension of grazing and the winter sub- 
sistence of cattle. Eed Top is another American grass, 
first cultivated about 1760, by the colonists. It was 
soon followed by the introduction to cultivation of Ken- 
tucky Blue grass, and, subsequently. Orchard grass. 

It will be noticed that the United States furnished 
four out of the five principal hay and pasturage pro- 
ducers used in agricultural practice ; the fourth, Eed 
Clover, being a native of Asia. It cannot be doubted 
that there yet remain others to be brought into 
cultivation. 

An observation of the varieties of grasses blooming 
in a pasture will not serve to determine the quality of 
the sward, for cattle, eating off the most palatable sorts, 
prevent them from reaching a condition of inflorescence. 
Thus, those valuable varieties which perpetuate them- 
selves by seed, sometimes tend to run out, leaving the 
field to the more unpalatable sorts, but not always, for 
nature provides, in the cases of some grasses, that varie- 
ties not reaching a (3ondition of seed-bearing, shall per- 
petuate themselves by abnormal root budding. 

Much can be determined of the components of a 
pasturage sward by a study of the structural character of 
the plants, even when grazed down to one inch. In Ger- 
many so much attention has been paid to the analysis of 
pasturage grasses and the description of varieties, that 
the subject is no longer a novel one. By such analyses, 
perennial grasses are distinguished from annual by the 
crowns and roots ; crowns of perennial varieties bearing 
relics of the preceding year's growth, while to the roots 
are attached creeping underground bud stems. A third 
test can be made by dissection of the stalks, for in peren- 
nials only a few embryo flowers will be found, while 



206 MARKET GARDENING. 

among annual varieties every shoot will contain an 
embryo flower. 

It is equally easy to recognize the leading varieties, 
even if closely eaten down, by examination of their base 
sheaths and general lower developments. For example : 
Perennial Eye grass possesses a flat sheath, very red, and 
leaves strongly ribbed, with ears at the base ; veins just 
discernible, even when held up between the eye and the 
light. Meadowy Fescue has a round sheath, decidedly 
red, leaves strongly ribbed, veins on leaves clearly 
marked as white lines, upon examination by transmitted 
light. Crested Dogtail possesses a half flat sheath, 
quite yellow, leaves never eared. At base of leaves a 
collar-like growth, peaked into two ear-like terminals. 
Foxtail, a flat sheath of deep violet color, almost black, 
leaf ribs flat. 

Timothy has the base enlarged to a green, bulb-like 
growth, similar to a small, very hard onion. At the 
junction of the sheath and blade there is found a thin 
white membrane, with sharp white teeth on the toj). 
Blue grass has a flat, elliptical sheath, light colored 
leaves, with round ends, parallel sides and rounded base, 
fleshy, hard and ribless, of a dark color under trans- 
mitted light. Orchard grass has the sheath broad and 
flat, leaves ribbed, with prominent keel on the under 
surface ; conspicuous thin white membrane at top of 
sheath. Eed Top is more variable than any of the pre- 
ceding. The sheath is without color, leaves rolled thin 
and dry, rough on both sides, ribs prominent, margin of 
leaves converged at base, never eared. 

Eegarding compounded mixtures of grass seeds, it 
has been frequently stated that seedsmen advocate mixed 
grasses for lawn and pasturage, that they may have an 
opportunity to run up the price. This is a mistake, for 
no pasture grass mixture is so costly as the same meas- 
ure of pure Blue grass, the basis of all good grazing 



THE GKASS QUESTION. 207 

mixtures. Let it be understood, the object of mixing 
varieties of grass seeds is manifold ; for instance, to 
insure a more numerous stand of plants, for some varie- 
ties may germinate better than others ; then, again, that 
some varieties be succulent and bright, when others are 
dingy, and for pasturage this is a very important con- 
sideration. Another good reason is, that soils vary so 
much and seasons vary so much, that it is best, in seed- 
ing down a pasturage, to diversify the risks. 

The deliberate mixing of distinct varieties of vege- 
table or flower seeds is looked uj)on, by all men, as a 
fraud of the worst kind, but the intelligent mixing of 
distinct varieties of grass seeds is an art which should 
be encouraged, for, properly done, it is in the interest 
of agriculture's most important crop — green pasturage 
and hay. Upon the length of time which it is contem- 
plated to allow the pasturage to stand, depends, to a 
large extent, the varieties of grass seeds to mix, as, for 
example, Timothy, Italian Eye grass. Cocksfoot, White 
and Alsike clover are all very quick to develop, and suit- 
able for a two or three years' shift, while, for a longer 
term, should be added Blue grass, Eed Top, Foxtail, 
Tall Fescue, Perennial Eye, Lucerne and Eed clover. 

While the limestone soils of Kentucky and Ten- 
nessee will sustain, in full vigor, a pure Blue grass pas- 
turage for a lifetime, few soils in other localities will be 
found equal to the task. On soils not suited to Blue 
grass alone, good temporary pasturage of two to five 
years' duration can be obtained, with a careful selection 
of varieties and satisfactory results, realized under a well- 
considered system of rotation. When one departs from 
the usual course of sowing Timothy with winter grain, 
to be followed with Clover in the spring, it is not a 
cheap matter to lay down a perfect pasture, hay field or 
lawn, for the preparation of the land is expensive, and a 
combination of varieties generally more costly than the 
simple varieties of Timothy and Clover. 



208 MARKET GARDENING. 

In laying down a pasture field, it is best to do it in 
the autumn, if conditions of moisture will permit, for 
the reason that time is then less precious ; but spring 
seeding, when the land is thoroughly prepared, is quite 
as effective. All prescriptions for grass seed mixtures, 
however, are little more than generalities, for no one 
can compile a table or series of tables, showing the varie- 
ties positively adapted to different localities, for soils, 
even on adjoining fields, frequently vary so much as to 
require an entire change in the varieties and proportions. 
How much more difficult to prescribe for unknown soils, 
some, perhaps, a thousand miles away. 

The geological constitution, rainfall, drainage, alti- 
tude and objects pought, whether for hay or grazing, all 
need to be studied. The best guide is the experience of 
others in one's location, but even that is often mislead- 
ing, for we have grown grand crops of Timothy and 
Clover in a section of a Southern State, where the farm- 
ers seldom saved any hay, trusting almost entirely to 
corn fodder — of course, there were no barnyards worthy 
of the name, in that locality. As an example, for ordi- 
nary soils a pasturage mixture might consist of forty 
pounds to the acre of Timothy, Orchard, Blue grass, 
Eed Top, Perennial Eye grass and Eed clover. Such a 
combination would be pretty certain to effect a stand, 
and, when once established, would comprehend some 
one variety in luxuriant growth throughout the extent 
of the growing season. 

Of course, in special locations, as on lowlands or 
mountain sides, or on special soils, as sands, gravels, 
clays, loams, some of the named sorts might, with 
advantage, be omitted, and others added. Timothy, for 
example, a short-lived hay grass, does best on well- 
drained land, and in northern latitudes. Eed Top, a 
longer-lived sort, does better on moist land, even sus- 
taining long-continued overflow. Orchard grass, on the 



THE GRASS QUESTION. 209 

other hand, a good, all-around sort, will grow on dry, 
sandy loam ; fairly well on poor clay, and better on rich 
bottoms, so it be not overflowed, and it even endures the 
shade of trees. Blue grass, doing best on limestone 
soils, is not a good hay producer, as it is a light cropper, 
difficult to cut, and harder to cure, but it is eminently a 
pasturage and lawn grass. It is an easy grower, flourish- 
ing for a limited time on gravels, bottoms and clays, 
while on limestone soils, grazing fields have been known 
to remain in perfection for sixty years. It will not 
stand severe drouth, but resists any amount of frost, 
while continued pasturage only makes it better. 

Thin seeding of grass is a most serious mistake, as a 
poor stand of grass only leaves room for weeds to occupy 
the space. Consequently, we advise a very liberal appli- 
cation of seed, for, under the best conditions, as respects 
preparation of land, distribution of seed and covering, a 
large portion of the seed will get too deeply covered over 
to vegetate. Not more than one farmer in a hundred, 
by his field practice, shows any indication that he real- 
izes the necessity of shallow covering of grass seeds, for 
they generally put on a harrow and cover, to a depth of 
one to two and one-half inches, delicate seeds not one- 
thirtieth of an inch in diameter. Certainly the greater 
part never shows a green blade, for farmers seldom stop 
to consider the delicate nature of the seeds they commit 
to rough, cloddy earth. One who sets himself to esti- 
mate the number of seeds in a pound, will soon come to 
a realization of the necessity for a perfect seed bed, for 
he will find the seeds to number, in a pound of Tall 
Fescue, 250,000, Eed clover 280,000, Orchard grass 
600,000, Timothy 1,250,000, Blue grass 2,375,000, 
Eough Meadow 3,000,000, and Red Top 8,000,000. Can 
it be expected that over ten per cent, of the seeds ever 
make a plant, considering the rough tillage and careless 
sowing of the ordinary farmer ? 
14 



210 N MARKET GARDENING. 

If one of an inquiring mind takes up a sod from a 
perfect grass pasturage and dissects it, he will find about 
six or seven distinct plants to every square inch, or eight 
hundred plants to the square foot, being about thirty- 
five millions to the acre. To obtain such a thick stand 
sufficient seed must be applied, or there will exist vacan- 
cies for the establishment of weeds. It may be interest- 
ing to enter into a calculation of how many seeds will 
be applied to an acre in thirty pounds of a mixture 
consisting of : 



Number of Pounds. 


No. Seeds to Pound. 


Total Seeds. 




1,250,000 

600,000 

8,000,000 

5,500,000 

280,000 


6,250,000 

3,000,000 

40,000,000 

25,000,000 

1,400,000 




Red Top, Five 




Red Clover, Fi ve 


A. grand total of 




75,650,000 



Not less than an application of this number, of over 
seventy-five millions of seeds, can be relied upon to prop- 
erly clothe an acre, an enormous number of seeds failing 
to make plants by reason of want of vitality, or on 
account of inefficient tillage or sowing. While the pre- 
ceding table, drawn for purposes of calculation, might 
serve as a fair prescription, the writer would suggest the 
following as covering a wide variety of seasons of growth, 
and better as respects reproduction and duration : Blue 
grass, ten pounds; Orchard, ten pounds; Perennial Eye 
grass, four pounds ; Meadow Fox Tail, four pounds ; 
Ked Top, three pounds ; Timothy, three pounds ; White 
clover, three pounds ; Eed clover, three pounds, or forty 
pounds in all. 

For lawns, either for surface effect, or designed to 
resist tramping, or on athletic grounds, a mixture is 
required, differing in each case, and both quite distinct 
from that applied to pasturage or hay. A word upon 
lawn-making may not be out of place, for the seedsman 
is often blamed for bad seed, when the failure is the 
result of a neglect of proper precautions to insure sue- 



THE GEASS QUESTIOlf. 211 

cess ; as much of the success of lawn-making depends 
upon the preparation of the ground. The land must be 
well plowed, or dug and harrowed, or raked, to secure 
thorough pulverization, and after being reduced to a per- 
fectly even surface, should be cleared of stumps, stones, 
roots and other impediments. The soil, if not wet, should 
then be made firm with a heavy roller, and top-dressed 
with a good fertilizer, unless the land had received an 
application of seven to eight tons of very short, well- 
rotted stable manure before plowing. We will here 
remark that stable manure is the best of all fertilizers, 
but there being some difficulty in obtaining it, and objec- 
tions to its use, on account of its offensive appearance 
and smell, we recommend a good grade of concentrated 
commercial fertilizer. Six to seven hundred pounds 
to the acre of such mixture should be applied. The fer- 
tilizer should be lightly harrowed in upon the seedbed, 
as it will be lost to the young plants if buried much 
beneath the surface. After the harrowing, the ground 
should be severely rolled, that the earth and seed may 
be brought into close contact. The lawn grass mixture 
should be sown at the rate of forty pounds to the acre, 
and rolled down. Sowing in September and October 
will be found most advantageous in latitudes south of 
Philadelphia ; in more northerly locations spring sowing 
is most successfully practiced, the work being done in 
April and May. 

Annual seeds, natural to the soil, are certain to 
spring up before the young grass becomes established, 
and an inexperienced person is likely to conclude that 
the weeds spring from weed seed in the grass seed, but 
all soils contain weed seeds, and, upon tillage, they are 
certain to vegetate. The weeds, as they become large 
enough, may be cut down or pulled up ; after the first 
year their growth will cease. Frequent rolling is advan- 
tageous in producing a good lawn, by solidifying the soil, 



212 MARKET GAEDENING. 

harassing insects and other vermin, and improving the 
level of the surface. On all lawns will regularly appear, 
in greater or less numbers, certain interlopers, such as 
Buttercups, Plantains, Dandelions, all from seeds nat- 
ural to the soil. These uninvited guests should always 
be dug out, otherwise subsequent labor will be increased 
one hundred fold by their seeding. Lawns may be 
advantageously dressed with stable manure in December, 
the long strawy portions being removed in March. On 
those portions of lawns, as around the house, where an 
immediate result in grass effect is desired, sod may be 
used. Fair sod can generally be had on roadsides, and 
if carefully taken up, and when laid down accurately 
jointed and solidified and covered with half an inch of 
rich compost, it will at once start off, and very soon be 
as much a fixture as the adjoining trees and shrubs. 
Lawn grass of good quality should produce a fair mat of 
herbage in from seventy to ninety days. Some persons 
offering lawn grass at a low price are using the so-called 
Canada Blue grass, which is not only worthless, but a 
pest, and difficult to eradicate. 

Some people, after seeding a piece of land with lawn 
grass, expect to see a green mat in two or three weeks, 
but in this they are mistaken, as the better varieties 
of grass are slow to produce effect, and when an effect is 
quickly developed, it is at the expense of adaptability 
and permanency. For instance, a fine mat of green color 
can be had in two weeks from a heavy sowing of White 
Clover, something very effective and pleasing to the eye, 
but clover is not a grass, and is not suitable for lawns, 
failing to produce that velvet-like effect, the result of 
the growth of the erect leaves produced by the best 
grasses, which habit fits them to quickly recover after 
mowing. Manures or fertilizers for lawns may be of 
many combinations. We recommend, to those who pre- 
fer to do their own mixing, a compound of three hun- 



THE GEASS QUESTION^. 213 

dred pounds of superphosphate, three hundred pounds 
dried meat, blood or fish, and four hundred pounds 
refuse common salt. The quantity of superphosphate 
and nitrogenous matter may be doubled, to advantage, 
or even made stronger, as grass will stand almost any 
amount of fertilizer. The common salt, used as an 
alterative and solvent, will be found to have a decided 
influence in keeping up the emerald green condition so 
desirable on a perfect lawn. Not more than three 
bushels to the acre should be applied in a season, and 
then best during a rain — never under a hot sun. 

Old lawns, much in decay, are better if plowed up, 
leveled and resown, but often this course is not conven- 
ient, certainly not if the lawn can be renovated by a sys- 
tem taking less time. In that case, when prompt results 
are desirable, the old sod should be well combed by a 
harrow, to tear out the dried grass and easily extracted 
dead roots. This operation also breaks the earth, put- 
ting it in a pulverized condition to receive seed, which 
may be sown broadcast, which, falling between the living 
grass, roots into the friable and fresh soil, and is at once 
in position to germinate and occupy the space. On 
many lawns cut with the lawn mower there appear many 
pests — the Creeping Veronica and the Mouse-Eared 
Chickweed being prominent — which crowd out desirable 
grasses and mar the appearance of the sward. Under 
such circumstances it is advised to break up the parts 
aSected and sow with seed of the Sheep Fescue, which 
will admit of such close cutting as to destroy all of the 
pestiferous plants. 



INDEX. 



Amateurs' garden 54, 55 

Analyses of luaiiures 41 

April calendar 189 

Asparagus 10 

Asparagus beetle 58 

August calendar 193 

Bean fertilizer 32 

Beans 2, 3, 10, 15, 165 

Beets. . . . ; 52, 152 

Bermuda grass 204 

Berry baslvCts 15 

Blackberry basinets 15, 43 

Bloomsdale Swede 152 

Blue grass 206, 209 

Bone dust 31 

Bordeaux mixture 68 

Buffalo grass 203 

Cabbage fungus 67 

Cabbage insects 26, 62, 63 

Cabbage, turnip-rooted 161 

Calendar, montlily 185 

Capital 5 

Carrot 32 52,158,161 

Cauliflower.. .. 4 

Celery. 113 

Census report 1 

Central district . . 3 

Cliemical manures 30. 31, 35, 38 

Chemistry of garden 30 

Cliili guano 39 

Classilication ot weeds 83 

Clover 212 

Clover fertilizer 32 

Club root 68 

Cold frames 51, 84, 92 

Commercial gardening 4 

Compost 14, 35, 37 

Costs 99, 132, 158 

Covering seeds 42 

Crates 15 

Cross fertilization 75 

Cucumber 2,4. 10,15,32, 110, 165 

Cultivation 20, 21, 155, 160 

Cutworm 60 

Damping off 100 

December calendar 197 

Desirable varieties 183 

Destroying weeds 83 

Dibble 53 

Disclaimer, seedsmen's 79 

Diseases of vegetables 65 

Districts ol: vegetable culture. . . 2 

Drainage 19 

Earl y (irops 7 

Egg plant 4, 52 



Egg plants, treatment of 165 

Emulsion, kerosene 64 

Evaporation 20 

Farmers 5 

Farm expenses 5 

February calendar 186 

Fermenting lye 37 

Fertile soils 19 

Fertilizers 1, 3, 35, 37, 38, 40 

Fish manure 40 

Florida 3, 12 

Forcing beds 71 

Foreign weeds 82 

Foxtail grass 206 

Freight cars 168 

Fumigation 110 

Fungi 25, 130 

Garden hoes 176 

Gardening 1, 4, 22, 23, 27, 28, 29 

Garden plan 55 

Gardening under glass, — 94, 96, 99 

Georgia 3 

Germination 44, 48, 50, 80 

Grafting 24 

Grama grass 203 

Grass 198, 203 

Grass plants to the acre 210 

Green fly 110 

Greenhouse 25 

Green manures 14, 33, 201 

Growers of seed 76 

Growth of vegetables 25 

Guano 14, 38, 39 

Half acre garden 181 

Harvesting roots 148, 157 

Heating 102 

ileredity in plants 69, 72 

Hessian fly 26 

Hoes 176 

Hotbeds 61, 84, 88 

Implements 1, 14, 169 

Insecticides 57 

Insects 26, 57 

Intermediate beds 51, 91 

Irrigation 202 

January calendar 185 

July calendar 192 

Jun e calendar .^ 191 

Kale 2, 10 

Kerosene emiilsion 64 

Kohl rabi 161 

Labor 1, 101 

Late crops 7 

Lawn 213 

Lettuce 45, 52, 103, 108 



214 



INDEX. 



215 



Lime 31 

Location 7, 17 

Lupine 36 

Lye, fermenting 37 

Manures 35, 36, 87 

Manxires, green 33 

Mangel wurzels 154 

March calendar 187 

Market gardening 2, 4, 94 

May calendar 190 

Melons 10 

Mixed grasses 207 

Moisture 44 

Monthly calendar 185 

Mulching 53 

Mushroom culture 135, 138, 139 

New England district 2 

Nitrate of soda 31 

Nitrogen 30, 31, 40 

Nitrogenous plants 20 

Norfolk district 2 

Novelties 77 

November calendar 196 

Oak 43 

October calendar 196 

Oily seed 4G 

Onion fly 64 

Onions 2, 45,125, 132 

Oranges 16 

Orchard grass 206 

Over production 12 

Packages 165 

Packing vegetables 164 

Parsnip 52, 162 

Pasture field 208 

Pea fungus 68 

Peas 3, 10, 15, 16, 45, 68 

Pepper 52 

Perennial rye grass 206 

Perishable vegetables 7, 103 

Peruvian guano 39 

Philadelphia district 3 

Phosphoric plants 30 

Phosphate of lime 31 

Plant pit 93 

Pollen 75 

Potash 30, 31, 32, 39 

Potato bug 60 

Potato fertilizer 32 

Potato plants 30 

Potato vine fungus 67 

Potatoes 2, 3, 10, 12, 16, 32 

Products 10, 110 

Profit in gardening 1,6 

Profits 6, 9 

Pulverization 20 

Quality 168 

Quantity of seed 42, 181 

Quotations 168 

Radishes 2, 45, 52 

Raspberries 15 

Red top grass 205, 208 

Rental 7 

Roots for stock feeding 140 

Roots, saving 147 

Rotation 54 

Rye 34, 201 



Rye grass 206 

Salt 128 

Saving roots 147 

Saving seed 74 

Science of gardening 22 

Seasons 3, 9, 11, 43 

Seed beds 51 

Seed drills 15,128,173 

Seed testing 46 

Seeds 1, 41, 42, 46, 70, 73, 76, 134 

Reeds in a pound 209 

Seedsmen's responsibilities... 77, 79 

September calendar 194 

Sexes in plants 69 

Sheep farming 200 

Shipments 168 

Shipping vegetables 164 

Soil 8, 17, 18, 19, 103, 107, 112 

Sorting vegetables 166 

South Atlanta district 3 

Sowing seeds 41, 87, 90, 144 

Spawn 135 

Spinach 2, 10, 45 

Squash 10 

Squash bug 60 

Stable manure 13, 14, 35, s6 

Starchy seed - 46 

Storing 120 

Strawberries 10, 12, 15 

Succession 54, 55 

Sugar beets 154 

Sulphate of ammonia 31 

Sun houses Ill 

Sunlight 18 

Superphosphate 13, 14, 31, 38 

Systems H 

Tanks 118 

Testing seeds 46, 47 

Texas blue grass 204 

Thinning out 56, 146 

Tillage 17, 20, 21 

Timothy , . . .204, 204 

Tomatoes 2, 3, 4, 10, 52, 168 

Transplanting 51, 89, 111 

Transportation 7, 15 

Trowel 56 

Truck farming 2 

Turnip 52, 142, 148, 150 

Turnip fertilizer 33 

Turnip fly 64 

Value of products 2 

Variability 71 

Varieties of beet "■ 153 

Varieties of carrot 159 

Varieties of onion 126 

Vegetables 3, 4, 7, 65, 164 

Ventilation 102, 105, 165 

Vitality 45, 47, 50, 134 

Watering 100 

Watermelon 3 

Weeds 82, 83 

Wheat fertilizer 32 

White grub 59 

Winter vegetables 4 

Wire worm 59 

Wood ashes 31, 39 

Wool 201 



A YalnaMe Periodical for eieryliody in City, Wm. ani Conntry. 



Jhe American fl gi'icultm'ig i 



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trations. Cloth, 12mo 1.50 

Stewart's Irrigation for the Farm, Garden, and Orchard. 

New and Enlarged Edition. This work is offered to those American 
Fai'mers, and olher cultivators of the soil, who from painful expe- 
rience can readily appreciate the losses which result from the scarcity 
of water at critical periods. By Henry Stewart. Fully illustrated. 
Cloth, 12mo.. 1.50 

Johnson's How Crops Grow. 

New Edition, entirely rewritten. A Treatisp, on the Chemical Compo- 
sition, Structure, and Life of the Plant. Revised Edition. This book 
is a guide to the knowledge of agricultural plants, their composition, 
their structure, and modes of development and growth ; of the com- 
plex organization of plants, and the use of the parts ; the germination 
of seeds, and the food of plants obtained both from the air and the 
soil. The book is an invaluable one to all real students of agricul- 
ture. With numerous illustrations and tables of analysis. By Prof. 
Samuel W. Johnson, of Tale College. Cloth, 12mo.. 2,00 

Johnson's How Crops Feed. 

A treatise on the Atmosphere and the Soil, as related in the Nutrition 
of Agricultural Plants. The volume — the companion and complement 
to "How Crops Grow," — has been welcomed by those who appreciate 
scientific aspects of agriculture. Illustrated. By Prof. Samuel W. 
Johnson. Cloth, 12mo 2.00 

Warington's Chemistry of the Farm. 

Treating with the utmost clearness and conciseness, and in the most 
popular manner possible, of the relations of Chemistry to Agriculture, 
and providing a welcome manual for those, who, while not having 
time to systematically study Chemistry, will gladly have such an idea 
as this gives them of its relation to operations on the farm. By R. 
Warington, F. C. S. Cloth, 12mo--. 1.00 

French's Farm Drainage. 

The Principles, Process, and Effects of Draining Land, with Stones, 
Wood, Ditch-plows, Open Ditches, and especially with Ties ; includ- 
ing Tables of Rainfall, Evaporation, Filteration, Excavation, Capacity 
of Pipes, cost and number to the acre. By Judge French, of New 
Hampshire. Cloth, ]2mo 1.50 

Hunter and Trapper. 

The best modes of Hunting and Trapping are fully explained, and 
Foxes, Deer, Bears, etc., fall into his traps readily by foUowihg his 
directions. By Halsey Thrasher, an old and experienced sportsman. 
Cloth, 12mo 75 

The American Merino. For Wool or for Mutton. 

A practical and most valuable work on the selection, care, breeding 
and diseases of the Merino sheep, in all sections of the the United 
■ States. It is a full and exhaustive treatise upon this one breed of 
sheep. By Stephen Powers. Cloth, 12mo 1.. 



8 STANDARD BOOKS. 

Armatage's Every Man His Own Horse Doctor. 

By Prof. George Armatage, M. R. C. V. S. A valuable and coiiipre- 
hensive guide for both the professional and general i-eader with the 
fullest and latest information regarding all diseases, local injuries, 
lameness, operations, poisons, the disjoensatorv, etc , etc., with practi 
cal anatoniical and surgical Illustrations. New Edition. Together 
with Blaine's " Veterinary Art," and numerous recipes. One large 
8vo. volume, 830 Images, half morocco-- 7.50 

Dadd's Modern Horse Doctor. 

Containing Practical Observations on the Causes, Nature, and Treat- 
ment of Diseases and Lameness of Horses— embracing recent and im- 
proved Methods, according to an enlightened system of Veterinary 
Practice, for Preservation and Restoration of Health. Illustrated. 
By Geo. H. Dadd, M. D. V. S., Cloth, 12mo - 1.50 

The Family Horse. 

Its Stabling, Care, and Feeding. By Geo. A. Martin. A Practical 
Manual, full of the most useful information. Illustrated. Cloth, 
12mo 1.00 

Sander's Horse Breeding. 

Being the general princii^les of Heredity ajiplied to the Business of 
Breeding Horses and the Management of Stallions, Brood Mares and 
Foals. The book embraces all that the breeder shoidd know in regard 
to the selection of stock, management of the stallion, broodmare, and 
foal, and treatment of diseases peculiar to breeding animals. By J. 
H. Sanders. 12mo, cloth ". 2.00 

Coburn's Swine Husbandry. 

New, revised and enlarged edition. The Breeding, Rearing and 
Management of Swine, and the Prevention and Treatment of their 
Diseases. It is the fullest and freshest compendium relating to Swine 
Breeding yet offered. By F. D. Coburn. Cloth, 12mo 1.75 

Dadd's American Cattle Doctor. 

By George H. Dadd, M. D., Veterinary Practitioner. To help every 
man to be his own cattle-doctor ; giving the necessary information 
for preserving the health and curing the diseases of oxen, cows, sheep, 
and swine, with a great variety of original recipes, and valuable infor- 
mation on farm and dairy managemeht. Cloth, 12mo 1.50 

Silos, Ensilage, and Silage. 

A practical treatise on the Ensilage of Fodder Coi-n. Containing the 
most recent and authentic information c'" this important subject, by 
Manly Miles, M.D., F.R.M.S. Illustrated. Cloth 12mo .50 

Broom Corn and Brooms. 

A Treatise on Raising Broom-Corn and Making Brooms on a small or 
Large Scale. Illustrated. 12mo. Cloth cover \bO 

American Bird Fancier. 

Or how to breed, rear, and care for Song and Domestic Birds. This 
valuable and important little work for all who are interested in the 
keepinu' of Song Birds, has been revised and enlarged, and is now a 
complete manuid upon the subject. All who own valuable birds, or 
wish to do so, will find the new Fancier indispensable. New, revised 
and enlarged edition. By D. J. Browne, and Dr. FuUer Walker. Illus- 
trated, paper cover - 58 



STANDARD B0OK& 9 

Annatage's Every Man His Own Cattle Doctor, 

The Veterinary Cyclopedia— Embracing all the practical information 
of value heretofore published on the Diseases of Cattle, Sheep, and 
Swine, together with the latest and best information regarding all 
known diseases up to the present time. Compiled and edited by that 
eminent authority, Prof. George Armatage, M. R. C. V. S. One 
large octavo volume, 894 pages, with upwards of 350 practical illus- 
trations, showing forms of disease and treatment. Half morocco. 7.50 

Onions— How to Eaise them Profitalbly. 

Being the Practical Details, from Selection of Seed and Preparation 
of Ground to Harvesting and Marketing the Crop, given very pliiinly 
by Seventeen Practical Onion Growers of lono- experience residing in 
different parts of the country. No more valuable work of its size 
■was ever issued. Paper cover, 8vo 30 

Tobacco Culture— Full Practical Details. 

This useful and valuable work contains full details of every process 
from the Selection and Preparation of the Seed and Soil to the Harvest- 
ing, Curing and Marketing the Crop, wiih illustrative engravings of 
the operations. The work was prepared by Fourteen Experienced 
Tobacco Growers, residing in different parts of the country. It also 
contains notes on the Tobacco Worm, with illustrations, 8vo,.. ,25 

Hop Culture. 

Plain directions given by ten experienced cultivators. Revised, en- 
larged and edited by A. S. Fuller. Forty engravings .30 

Flax Culture. 

A very valuable work, containing full directions, from selection of 
ground and seed to preparation and marketing of crop, as given by 
a number of experienced growers, 8vo .30 

Potato Pests, 

No Farmer can afford to be without this little book. It gives the 
most complete account of the Colorado Beetle anywhere to be found, 
and includes all the latest discoveries as to the habits of the insect 
and the various means for its destruction. It is well illustrated, and 
exhibits in a map the spread of the insect since it left its native home. 
By Prof. C. V. Riley. Paper cover.... .50 

Home Fishing and Home Waters. 

By Seth Green. The Utilization of Farm Streams ; Management of 
Fish in the Artificial Pond ; Transportation of Eggs and Frj', etc. 
Cloth, 13mo -..-- 50 

Eeed's House Plans for Everybody. 

By S. B. Reed. This useful volume meets the wants of persons of 
moderate means, and gives a wide range of design, from a dwelling 
costing $250 up to $8,000, and adapted to farm, village and town resi- 
dences. Nearly aU of these plans have been tested by practical work- 
ings. One feature of the work imparts a value over any similar pub- 
lication of the kind that we have seen. It gives an estimate of the 
quantity of every article used in the construction, and the cost of each 
article at the time the building was erected or the design made. Even 
if prices vary from time to time, one can, from these data, ascertain 
•within a few dollars the probable cost of constructing any one of the 
buildings here presented. Profusely illustrated. Cloth, black and 
gold, 13mo - 1.50 



lO STANDARD BOOKS. 

Gregory on Cabbages— How to Grow Them. 

A Practical Treatise on Cabbage Culture, giving; full details on everj 
point, inclnding Keeping and Marketing the Crop. By James J. H. 
Gregory. Paper cover, 13mo 3lj 

Gregory on Carrots, Mangold- Wurtzels, etc. 

How to raise them, how to keep them, and how to feed them. By 
J. J. H. Gregory. Paper Cover, 12mo .30 

Gregory on Onion Raising. 

What kinds to raise, and the way to raise them. By J. J. H. Gregory. 
Paper cover, 12mo... .30 

Gregory on Squashes. 

This Treatise, which no Farmer or Gardener ought to be without, 
tells all about selecting the soil for squashes ; how much Manure is 
necessary ; how to prepare and Plant ; about Hoeing and Cultivating ; 
Setting of the Fruit ; Ripening, Gathering, Storing, Care during Win- 
ter, etc. By J. J. H. Gregory. Paper coVer, 12mo .30 

Hog-Raising and Pork-Making. 

By Rufus Bacon Martin. The hog is reared lor the money that is in 
him, and he represents either a profit or loss to his owner according to 
the treatment he receives. This pamphlet gives the personal research 
and experience of the author, contains many valuable suggestions, 
and answei's many of the questions that arise in the business of hog- 
raising. Paper, 13mo--- .& 

Fulton's Peach Culture. 

This is the only practical guide to Peach Culture on the Delaware 
Peninsula, and is the best work upon the subject of peach growing for 
those who would be successful in that culture in any part of the 
country. It has been thoroughly revised and a large portion of it re- 
written, by Hon. J. Alexander Fulton, the author, bringing it down to 
date. Cloth, 12mo 1.5U 

Silk Culture. 

A Handbook for Silk-Growers. By Mrs. C. E. Bamford. Con- 
tents. — Chapter I. The Mulberry. — LI. Gathering the Leaves.— 
III. The Cocoonery.~IV. Eggs of the Silk Worm Moth.— V. Feed- 
ing the Silk Worms.— VI. Moulting.— VII. Spinning.— VIII. The 
Cocoons.— IX. The Moths of the Silk Worm.— X. Varieties of Silk 
Worms.— XI. Diseases of the Silk Worm.— XII. Reeling.— XIII. 
Chemistry of Silk. — XIV. Miscellaneous. Paper, 12mo. Price, post- 
paid .30 

Treats' Injurious Insects of the Farm and Garden. By 
Mrs. Mary Treat. 

An original investigator who has added much to our knowledge of both 
Plants and insects, and those who are familiar with Darwin's works 
are aware that he gives her credit for important observation and dis- 
coveries. New and Enlarged Edition. With an Illustrated Chapter 
on Beneficial Insects. Fully illustrated. Cloth, 12mo 2.00 

Fuller's Small Fruit Culturist. 

By Andrew S. Fuller. Rewritten, enlarged, and brought fully up to 
the present time. The book covers the whole ground of propagating 
small fruits, their culture, varieties, packing for market, etc. It is 
very finely and thoroughly illustrated, and makes an admirable com- 
panion to "The Grape Culturist," by the same well known author. 

1.50 



